Scrapping Commonwealth Games cost Victoria US$384.4 million, exaggerated financial hit, Australian state’s auditor says
- State’s then-premier said last year the Games’ cost could blow out to A$7 billion (US$4.57 billion) from a budgeted A$2.6 billion if they went ahead
- But the state’s auditor-general said the cost was overstated, the budget had been “unrealistically low”, agencies did not work together
The government of the Australian state of Victoria overstated the costs of staging the 2026 Commonwealth Games when it pulled out of hosting the multi-sports event last year, the state’s auditor-general said in a report on Wednesday.
The state premier at the time, Dan Andrews, said last year that the cost of the Games, which were to have been held in four regional hubs, could blow out to almost A$7 billion (US$4.57 billion) from a budgeted A$2.6 billion if they went ahead.
“The cost estimate for the Games that the government publicly released in August 2023 of US$6.9 billion was overstated and not transparent,” the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) said in the report.
“It added significant amounts for industrial relations and cost escalation risks. But it did not disclose that the budget already included $1 billion in contingency allowances to cover these and other cost risks.”
The report said the original budget estimate had been “unrealistically low” and various agencies had failed to work together to give the government proper advice on costs.