Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Commonwealth Games

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (17:51): (346) My adjournment is directed towards the Minister for Regional Development. I am seeking an explanation on the Commonwealth Games debacle, and I am glad this house has agreed to establishing a select committee so we can look into the shocking incompetence that caused the government’s decision to cancel the Commonwealth Games. This has trashed our reputation on the world stage. When the government announced this decision I was actually in Italy in a small town called Lamezia Terme, in Calabria, visiting some family there. My zio switched on the TV and there was a news presenter reading in Italian about the shocking decision to cancel the Commonwealth Games. And then all of a sudden I saw Mr Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Ms Shing as well speaking on the decision to cancel the Commonwealth Games. Far from running a games like no other, this government has turned Victoria into a global laughing-stock.

The mishandling of this games has left heartbroken many athletes, coaches and families, especially in the north, who were training hard and looking forward to the prospect of competing in front of a home crowd. One promising talent in my electorate is Wallan’s Mitchel Langborne, who recently represented Australia in the 800-metre running competition in the European tour in July and placed second in the final. Bruce McAvaney, who we all know – the legendary sports broadcaster – said it was embarrassing for Victoria. The AOC called the cancellation ‘a blow’ to the ambition of athletes and to the participation in sports of future generations. The chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation called it ‘absolutely embarrassing’. It is extraordinary that we are in this place today discussing this matter when it was only last sitting week that Ms Shing, sitting across from us, was breathlessly selling the virtues of the Commonwealth Games. She said:

We know that wherever our Commonwealth Games have been had around the globe we see around about a $3 billion return on investment …

which would deliver around 7500 jobs. We have talked about the legacy, but the return, one would conclude, is lost.

Only to top Ms Shing’s incompetence would be that of the now sacked former Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery Jacinta Allan, who we know is responsible for about $30 billion in infrastructure project blowouts. According to media reports, one Labor MP described Jacinta Allan as the Minister for Fyre Festival, which I think is an unfair characterisation – at least Fyre Festival had one band playing before it was cancelled. That is what Labor MPs are briefing out. Perhaps it was a fan of Mr Ben Carroll in the other place, perhaps it was Mr Galea or perhaps it was even Mr Erdogan who said that. I seek for the minister to come forth about what she knew and when she knew it. And when she was speaking to this Parliament just last sitting week, did she know about the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games and did she mislead the Parliament?