Commonwealth Games 2026: Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan ‘overstated’ cost blowout of the event when they cancelled it, the auditor-general has found
Already a subscriber?Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and her predecessor, Daniel Andrews, overstated the blowout costs of the 2026 Commonwealth Games by more than $2 billion when they walked away from hosting the event, a damning auditor-general’s investigation has found.
, the cost at that point was actually $4.86 billion, Mr Greaves found. The Department of Premier and Cabinet had added $2 billion in “additional cost pressures” to the estimates, but this had not been allocated to specific line items. “This waste of taxpayer money on an event that will not happen is significant, especially considering the state’s recent sustained operating deficits and rising debt levels.“The original Games budget was unrealistically low, but the $6.9 billion cost estimate the government publicly released when it withdrew from the games was overstated.”
Commonwealth Games Australia boss Craig Phillips on Wednesday said the report confirmed Mr Andrews engaged in a “gross exaggeration of costs” when he axed the Games. CGA’s repeated advice to the government to change the delivery model of the event was ignored, he said.
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