Report highlights Commonwealth Games failures

The Legislative Council Select Committee concludes failures by key decision makers led to the July 2023 abandonment of the event in regional Victoria.

‘Whilst the ultimate decision to withdraw from hosting the Games was the correct decision at that time, the Committee emphasises that the Games should have never progressed to that point,’ Committee Chair David Limbrick said.

‘Victorians, especially regional Victorians, were let down by a string of decision-making failures by the Victorian Government, as well as inadequate due diligence and planning processes at both the departmental and ministerial level.

“ ‘To put it simply, the high cost and inability to host the Games as proposed should have been discovered far earlier by the Victorian Government.’ ”

David Limbrick, Committee Chair

The report finds the proposed multi-city model was overly ambitious and not feasible in the timeframe, and there’s no evidence the government investigated an alternative Melbourne-based option.

‘The Committee hopes that the Victorian Government will use the learnings contained in this report to improve upon its processes to ensure this kind of failure does not happen in future,’ Mr Limbrick said.

There are further findings on the $2 billion regional funding package, and the difficulties the Committee experienced seeking evidence from the Victorian Government during the inquiry.

‘Key witnesses, including the former Premier and relevant Ministers, declined to appear at public hearings,’ Mr Limbrick said.

‘Requests for relevant documentation were met with broad claims of executive privilege. The government refused to follow the process set out in the Legislative Council’s Standing Orders for assessing claims of executive privilege.

“ ‘It is disappointing that the Victorian Government did not fully cooperate with the important work of this Committee.’ ”

David Limbrick, Committee Chair

The inquiry received 44 written submissions and gathered evidence from 87 witnesses across 12 days of public hearings.

This included travelling to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Traralgon to hear from the people and communities most affected by the decision to withdraw from hosting the Games.

“I want to sincerely thank all those who made submissions and provided evidence at public hearings,” Mr Limbrick said.

Read the full report and all other inquiry related information on the Committee’s website.