Thursday, 5 October 2023

Commonwealth Games

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): My question is to the Premier. In the Premier’s response to yesterday’s question about her evidence to PAEC, the Premier said she was ‘advised on 14 June that the Premier was seeking legal advice’ on scrapping the Commonwealth Games. Did the Premier have any conversations or communications about the potential cancellation of the games prior to 14 June?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:35): No.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): The Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy Harriet Shing boasted about the benefits of the games in Parliament on both 20 June and 21 June. Did the Premier have any conversations or communications with Minister Shing about the potential cancellation of the Commonwealth Games prior to 20 June?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:36): No, and I repeat what I have said previously to the Leader of the Opposition through his questioning. He can ask all the questions he likes, but when it came down to the fact that to spend $6 billion to $7 billion on a 12-day sporting event –

A member: Which you agreed with.

Jacinta ALLAN: Thank you to my ministerial colleague. The Leader of the Opposition agreed with the decision and also agreed that we do the due diligence in making that decision – that we instead turn that energy to investing in regional Victoria for the key legacy reasons why we agreed to host the games in the first place. That is what is happening right now on the ground, where we are working with regional communities to build more homes, to invest in sporting facilities and to support the tourism and major events industries. That is the work that we will continue to focus on. You can focus on all you like, Leader of the Opposition. That is the work we will continue to support regional Victorians with.