Victoria’s bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games was rushed and based on “grossly underestimated costs”, a parliamentary inquiry into the cancelled event has found.
“These Games were doomed from the beginning because they were built on the shaky foundations of a business case that grossly underestimated costs,” he told the upper house.
“The committee found that the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions put limitations on the consultants that built the business case, including an unreasonably short time frame and strict confidentiality provisions preventing even site visits from occurring.”
In April 2022, months away from a state election, the Victorian government agreed to host the Games in regional Victoria at an estimated cost of $2.6 billion but pulled out in July 2023, saying the figure had blown out to $6.9 billion.
The ultimate decision to withdraw from hosting the event cost Victoria over $589 million, including $380 million paid in compensation to Games organisers.
If the government took more time with the business case it may not have wasted more than half a billion dollars of Victorian taxpayers’ money, Mr. Limbrick said.
The interim report made no recommendations but contained 23 findings, including that the risks of hosting a large, multi-city event contributed to cost blowouts.
It also found the government approved a 2022/23 state budget allocation of $2.6 billion to host the Games the day after receiving the final business case.
“This was not enough time to adequately consider the merits of hosting the Games,” the report states.
The upper house inquiry is made up of three Labor, three coalition and three crossbench MPs.
Labor MP and committee member Michael Galea said the inquiry had failed to produce the “smoking gun” coalition MPs had been seeking.
“We had four ministers appear before our inquiry last year and all sorts of outrageous accusations,” he said.
“They haven’t been able to prove a single one of them.”
Mr. Limbrick said much of the information requested from the government by the inquiry was either not provided or it claimed executive privilege.
He said the documents related to ministerial briefings.
Mr. Limbrick plans to move a motion in the upper house on April 29 to request an independently appointed arbiter test the government’s claims of executive privilege over the documents.
The chair also expressed his disappointment at the refusal of Premier Jacinta Allan and her predecessor Daniel Andrews to front the inquiry to explain their decisions.
Liberal MP and committee member David Davis conceded the report was “incomplete” but said it was clear not enough time was set aside for the business case.
In March, a separate inquiry by the auditor-general into the Games’ cancellation found the price estimate that resulted in the event being shelved was “overstated and not transparent”.
The auditor-general said agencies failed to work together to give “frank, full and timely advice” to the government before it decided to host the Games.
The Commonwealth Games Federation plans to announce a new host for the 2026 Games in May, with Glasgow in Scotland among the cities considering a tilt at the event.
The parliamentary inquiry’s final report is due to be handed down by April 2025.
