Wednesday, 20 March 2024

Victorian Auditor-General’s Office

Withdrawal from 2026 Commonwealth Games

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:29): I would like to rise and speak on the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) report Withdrawal from 2026 Commonwealth Games, which has been dropped on our tables today, March 2024. It is no shock to me that the findings that have come back are that the games cost Victoria over $589 million, with no discernible benefit. It is no shock to me – I am one of the members on the Commonwealth Games inquiry in the upper house – that the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions business case for the games was inadequate to support any informed decision by the government on the likely costs and benefits of hosting. It is no shock to me that there was no consultation with the regional councils that control most of the venues that would be required for the games, and I am quoting from this report.

I might put on record that from listening and asking questions at these hearings in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo – we had a representative from the Shepparton shire council at our Bendigo hearing – and last week in the Latrobe Valley, no-one had been consulted. This is absolutely correct: there was no consultation with the regional councils that control most of these venues. Post it is consul-told, yes; consulted, no.

Let me point out some things that were absolutely heartbreaking to listen to from one of the businesspeople from last week. Her name is Katie Reardon. She is from Farnham Court, and she spoke with such passion and such distress. The night before the Commonwealth Games was cancelled they had just secured, on a one-page document, an agreement with Team England to host Team England at Farnham Court. Thirty-three rooms – they were going to triple their workforce. She said they had been so excited about it. I wrote extensive notes: ‘We were gutted by COVID for so long. It has gutted us. No guests for such a long time – the only guests were emergency services. We’d renovated the motel over a period of time.’ And then she said: ‘My background is in events. We were shattered, and no-one could believe it. It was a kick in the guts for Morwell. Morwell gets avoided like the plague’ – these are her words I took – ‘and Morwell was to be the star.’ She went on to say of the excitement: ‘Everyone was to win in our town, and this legacy is missing. It is missing from our town. In a heartbeat it was given to us; in a heartbeat it was taken away.’ She said: ‘I want to hear what you’ – the Labor government – ‘are going to do for Morwell.’ They closed the deal a few hours before the Premier stood up and said it was a no-go. She went on to talk about her passion for the town of Morwell and their need. It is no shock to those people in the Latrobe Valley that there was a total lack of consultation.

We heard from a very dear gentlemen in Mr Garry Silvester from the badminton club. He was visibly emotional about the impact and the toll that the cancellation took on him. There are over 200 young people he coaches and trains in badminton in the Latrobe Valley with such passion and dedication. It was palpable, his disappointment. Do you know what he said? I asked him what he needs from that. He has not had communication with Sport and Recreation Victoria, from the minister or from this government about what his legacy will be. There is a new building called the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium that is largely used for basketball – they have to put tape down on the lines for about 20 hours before they hold an event and then rip it up again. He is passionate about supporting young people into positive sport and the whole breadth of the way that sport can transform lives and connect people and give them health and wellbeing.

What did we see the other day? We saw this government in damage control when the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events came down to the valley. He did not promise Mr Silvester anything for the badminton fraternity in that area. He did not promise that. It was damage control by the truth serum that these people came to this inquiry. I took notes. Going back to the VAGO report, this solidifies it very much so. The contents of this VAGO report was evident in that testimony last week.