Victoria must pay $ 380 million after canceling the organization of the 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Huge bill to Victoria’s taxpayers revealed
- Prime Minister Daniel Andrews canceled the matches last month
- Said costs of up to $7 billion could not be justified
The Victorian government has agreed to pay Commonwealth Games bodies $380 million in compensation after canceling the 2026 event.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews made the shock announcement last month that Victoria would not host the Games as planned over concerns they would far exceed initial cost expectations.
Following the announcement, mediation was launched between the State of Victoria, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Commonwealth Games Federation Partnerships (CGFP), Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA).
Lawyers from the state government traveled to London last month to negotiate the costs of terminating the contract.
After confidential “good faith” discussions, Victoria agreed to pay the three parties a total of $380 million.
“All parties acted respectfully and made appropriate concessions to reach an agreement,” the groups said in a joint statement.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews made the shock announcement last month that Victoria would not host the Games as planned amid concerns they would far exceed initial cost expectations
Mediators in the process were former New Zealand Judge The Honorable Kit Toogood KC and former Chief Justice of the WA Supreme Court The Honorable Wayne Martin AC KC.
In canceling the regional Victorian Games on July 18, Prime Minister Andrews cited an expected increase in costs from $2.6 billion to between $6 billion and $7 billion.
During the mediation, the Commonwealth Games parties also agreed that the multi-hub regional model was more expensive to host than the traditional models.
State and federal investigations have been launched to investigate the cancellation of the 2026 Games.