Commonwealth Games 2026: Daniel Andrews has condemned Victoria to being a national disgrace by cancelling the event, writes WAYNE FLOWER

Victorians have every right to be embarrassed by the abrupt cancellation of the Commonwealth Games and the resulting international humiliation, but they should not be surprised.

The cancellation of the 2026 Games is just the latest example of ambitious and colossally expensive Victorian projects promised but then abandoned or significantly downgraded as the Prime Minister’s fetish for big government plans collides head-on with fiscal realities .

Add the Commonwealth Games to the East-West Link road project and the Melbourne to Airport rail line that this state government has canceled.

Then there was the faded promise of 4,000 extra ICU beds during Covid, local public health units announced during the pandemic, but it’s now running out of money.

These and other projects have fallen victim to the rapidly growing national debt which is expected to reach $171 billion in 2026/2027.

Despite this, other grand projects are moving forward — for now: the new $35 billion rail loop connecting the suburbs (despite little customer demand) and the West Gate tunnel, the cost of which has doubled to $10 billion and has been open for eight years being old. let and count.

Everyone felt that the end of ‘Dictator Dan’s record-breaking Covid lockdown was just the beginning of years of misery ahead.

Mr Andrews made it clear that he had little qualms about tossing huge amounts of Victorian tax coins before he was even elected.

The cost to the taxpayer of demolishing Melbourne’s East West Link road project has cost the Victorians $1.1 billion.

Daniel Andrews told Victorians the decision to ditch the games was “easy.”

The West Gate Tunnel suffered a massive $4.7 billion explosion

It was an election promise Victorian voters embraced that enabled Andrews to overthrow the Liberal government in 2014.

The East West Connect Consortium was awarded the contract to build the 11-mile road linking the Eastern Freeway at Hoddle Street to CityLink, the Port of Melbourne and beyond to the Western Ring Road.

Along with many political promises, it never happened after Labor took control.

Fast forward to 2022 and the Victorians voted Mr Andrews back into power despite the longest Covid-19 lockdown in human history.

The squabbling opposition had grown so weak that Mr Andrews sauntered to electoral victory despite his name continuing to crop up in various investigations by the Independent Broad Anti-Corruption Commission.

In 2020, Mr Andrews told Victorians – who are still trapped in their homes in lockdown – that Victoria would benefit from a ‘massive $1.3 billion injection to quickly create 4,000 additional ICU beds’.

The money was earmarked in response to the Covid pandemic, which was sweeping through the state at the time, with 968 new cases confirmed on the same day the announcement was released.

Daily Mail Australia has asked the Prime Minister’s office about the commitment numerous times over the years, but has never received a response.

The cost of public transportation this year is $10 for a day pass

The cancellation of the Games comes just months after the Prime Minister announced he was shedding plans to build a rail link to Melbourne Airport too late.

To this day – and seemingly beyond – anyone catching a plane from Melbourne has a choice between a very large taxi or Uber fare, sharing a cramped bus or paying through the nose for parking.

In May, hundreds of tradesmen were seconded to other projects after the Andrews government confirmed that construction of the Melbourne Airport Rail Link would be paused.

Deputy Prime Minister Jacinta Allan ended weeks of speculation by confirming that work on the $13 billion Airport Rail Link would be temporarily halted, along with upgrades to Clyde, McGregor and Racecourse roads.

“Airport rail is basic infrastructure in almost every major city in Australia and the world, but in Victoria we just can’t seem to get it done,” Deputy Opposition Leader David Southwick said at the time

“There are no more excuses. The money for this project is available and the Andrews government should continue to implement this important project.”

Melbourne still has no rail link to the airport

The following month, Victorians were stunned when it was reported that Mr Andrews had cut future funding for one of the most important reforms of the pandemic era: the local public health units set up at the height of the COVID-19 crisis to manage the public health of the is to be rebuilt. capacity and defense against infectious diseases.

Government funding for the units would shrink from about $80 million this fiscal year to $55 million in 2023-24 and fall further to $47 million in 2024-25, The age reported in June.

The Public Health Association of Australia said the funding decision was short-sighted and disappointing, while senior figures within Victoria’s Department of Health, who spoke anonymously to discuss budget matters, said it sent a terrible message about the importance of public and preventive health.

In April, the publication revealed that 45 community health services in Victoria were told to brace themselves for cuts of up to 15 per cent, which mainly targeted preventive programs such as vaping and obesity.

Less than a month ago, Victorians learned that it would also cost them more to hop on a train or tram.

Starting in July, daily Myki fares for travel on Victorian public transport increased by nearly a dollar to $10 a day.

The daily rate went from $9.20 to $10, while the single rate went from $4.60 to $5.

It represented an increase of 8.7 percent, which is more than inflation.

Prime Minister Daniel Andrews ditched the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday

Meanwhile, Victoria’s most expensive public transport construction contract in history is about to be signed, paving the way for major works on the $35 billion Suburban Rail Loop.

The project links Cheltenham to Box Hill via a new 16 miles (26 km) underground line.

The railway – which has never met with any public demand – was labeled a “waste of money” by the opposition, which had pledged in its election campaign to funnel $8.7 billion in state funding for the project to Victoria’s struggling health system.

Whether the project will ever actually get completed is anyone’s guess, as Melburnians living in the west are still dealing with traffic woes years after the West Gate Tunnel project was supposed to make life easier.

The state budget in May revealed a massive $4.7 billion blowout for the West Gate Tunnel — which will now cost $10.2 billion and be completed eight years late.

But while Victorians struggle to put food on the table, find a roof to sleep under and pay for heating this winter, they were no doubt buoyed last month by the announcement that Mr Andrews would receive a pay rise.

Victorian MPs received a 3.5 per cent pay rise on July 1, taking the pay of backward MPs to nearly $200,000 and Mr Andrews’s to more than $481,000.

Andrews said on Tuesday the decision to cancel the Games was an “easy one”.

It’s the kind of comment that makes the blood of ordinary Victorians boil.

The cost of the Commonwealth Games dumping remains a secret so far, but it won’t stay that way.

“Cancelled Comm Games, reduced public health funding, paused airport trains — meanwhile, pay raises for politicians… Going great,‘ commented a Victorian on Mr Andrews’ record on Tuesday.