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Cancelling the Commonwealth Games will cost Victorians more than half a billion dollars, according to new state government department estimates.<\/p>\n
As Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed she would not take part in a parliamentary inquiry into the axed event, departments were forced to disclose figures to the probe on their sunk costs from canning the 12-day event.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Games organisers and the state\u2019s top bureaucrat will give evidence on the government\u2019s decision in July to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games. The government blamed overruns that blew out the cost from $2.6 billion to $7 billion and agreed to pay Commonwealth Games bodies $380 million in compensation to walk away from the event.<\/p>\n
Fresh figures provided by government departments to the parliamentary inquiry detail additional costs of more than $150 million, taking the total expected cost to taxpayers well above $500 million.<\/p>\n
The fresh figures were collated by the state opposition using recently published questionnaires sent to departments and agencies as part of the parliamentary inquiry.<\/p>\n
Some of the largest sunk costs include $21.6 million on consultants to help plan athlete housing in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Morwell and more than $19 million on competition venues for Geelong and Ballarat.<\/p>\n
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Premier Jacinta Allan oversaw the Commonwealth Games as a minister.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Eamon Gallagher<\/cite><\/p>\n According to another document, the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions provided the organising committee with $40 million in operating grants between September 2022 and July this year to plan the event.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s tourism body Visit Victoria spent $3 million on a marketing strategy to promote the Games, and Games organisers spent another $800,000 on a business program to promote diplomacy and trade as part of hosting the Games.<\/p>\n According to the questionnaires, four government departments \u2013 the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions; the Department of Premier and Cabinet; the Department of Transport and Planning; and the Department of Treasury and Finance \u2013 also spent tens of millions on wages and payouts for extra staff hired to help deliver the event.<\/p>\n Asked on Sunday whether she was aware of a total cost to taxpayers for axing the event, Allan said the \u201cbudget would be reconciled in the usual way\u201d.<\/p>\n State Auditor-General Andrew Greaves recently announced he would probe the Commonwealth Games cancellation after the opposition requested an investigation.<\/p>\n Allan said the state\u2019s financial watchdog was the best place for a probe to occur.<\/p>\n Jeroen Weimar, the chief executive for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, and the former chief executive of the Office of the Commonwealth Games, Allen Garner, are listed to appear before the inquiry on Monday.<\/p>\n Allan has not yet been invited to give evidence but said she would not front the upper house inquiry if invited to do so.<\/p>\n "No, I won't be appearing before the inquiry," she said on Sunday.<\/p>\n The parliamentary committee cannot compel the premier to appear as she is a member of the lower house. But an opposition spokesperson said the committee would invite the premier to give evidence in her capacity as the former minister for delivering the Games.<\/p>\n According to documents provided to the inquiry, more than $44,000 was also spent to fly Victoria\u2019s top public servant, Jeremi Moule, to London to advise the Commonwealth Games Federation that the Games would be axed.<\/p>\n Taxpayer also spent thousands of dollars on travel costs for Weimar to attend the 2022 World Road Cycling Championships in Wollongong and for him to travel to Queensland to tour 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games sites.<\/p>\n The government paid law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler $1.27 million and barrister Frances Gordon, KC, $19,745 for 17 days work in August for legal services to dump the Games. The half a billion-dollar bill also includes $6 million spent by Victoria Police to establish a dedicated unit for the Games.<\/p>\n Sale yards in Ballarat that were to be converted into accommodation for Commonwealth Games athletes.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n On June 13 Allan told a public accounts and estimates committee of the \u201ctremendous progress\u201d of Games organisers just 24 hours before the law firm was engaged to provide advice about withdrawing from the event.<\/p>\n Opposition Leader John Pesutto described the figure as staggering and called on Allan to \u201ccome clean\u201d on when she first knew the Games were at risk of being cancelled.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a staggering amount of money to have been squandered on an event that will never be held. Money that could have been spent on hospitals, schools, roads and providing much needed cost-of-living relief for Victorians. And we know there will be a lot more to come,\u201d Pesutto said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s never been just about the astonishing amount of money that has been torched by Labor. It\u2019s also about the integrity of the premier, who continues to cover up the true extent of this debacle.\u201d<\/p>\n The committee will hold public hearings on October 9, 13, 23 and 26 and is scheduled to hand down an interim report in April.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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