Victorian Premier defends decision to cancel event
Victoria's Opposition says the state's taxpayers deserve to know how much money has been wasted on the Andrews government's decision to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth games. Labor has axed the games which were to be held in regional Victoria, citing a cost blow-out, of more than twice initial estimates. The Premier Daniel Andrews has spent the day defending his government's decision.
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00:00 Ballarat was gearing up to host the marathon through this main street in less than a thousand
00:07 days.
00:08 But it was the Victorian government's ambitious plan to host the Commonwealth Games across
00:12 four regional cities which led to these massive cost blowouts forcing the Games to be scrapped.
00:18 Premier Daniel Andrews says Victoria simply can't afford to host the Games anymore which
00:23 he claims would cost $7 billion.
00:26 A figure that the Organising Committee says is a gross exaggeration.
00:30 But the Premier refused to answer how much Victorian taxpayers will have to fork out
00:34 for the cancellation saying that those contract negotiations are still underway.
00:38 Discussions in London are on that exact matter, costs that have been incurred.
00:42 Again, I've done more press conferences than most, I've answered more questions than probably
00:48 many people in this role.
00:50 We'll answer the questions when we can answer them and when answering them, so when we have
00:56 the answers, some of them we don't yet, like what's the ultimate outcome of the negotiation,
00:59 well it isn't finished yet so I can't answer that.
01:02 I'm not going to speculate and I'm not going to do anything or say anything that potentially
01:08 compromises the interests of Victorian taxpayers and sees us having to pay more.
01:13 Questions have also been raised about why the event couldn't be moved to Melbourne which
01:16 already has a lot of purpose built sporting facilities.
01:18 But Daniel Andrews says even that would cost too much with a price tag of $4 billion.
01:24 A figure that's raised eyebrows given that last year's Birmingham games cost $1.8 billion.
01:30 Today the government announced the details of a $2 billion package for regional Victoria
01:34 including 1,300 new homes that it hopes will soften the blow for losing the games and the
01:40 benefits that come with it.
01:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]