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Why did Victoria pull out of the 2026 Commonwealth Games?
On 18 July 2023, the Victorian Government announced that it would not proceed with hosting. It said the cost of hosting was certain to exceed A$6 billion, substantially above the expectation underpinning the host contract signed in April 2022. The government’s release said: “In the face of these numbers, the Victorian Government has made the decision not to proceed with hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2026.” This was the government’s stated rationale at the time, not an independent audit conclusion. The Victorian Auditor-General’s later report records the government’s position and examines the decisions around the withdrawal.
Victoria had proposed a regional, multi-hub Games rather than concentrating events in one city. In its 18 August 2023 settlement statement, Commonwealth Sport said the parties agreed that “the multi-hub regional model was more expensive to host than the traditional models.” That agreement establishes one factor affecting costs; it does not provide an item-by-item explanation for every increase in the forecast. The remaining settlement terms were confidential. Commonwealth Sport’s statement sets out the public terms.
What the different cost figures mean
The headline figures are not interchangeable. Some refer to the forecast for staging the Games; others measure scenarios in the earlier business case or money spent after the decision to withdraw.
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| Figure | What it measures | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| About A$2.6 billion | Expected gross cost underpinning the April 2022 host contract. | Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, 2024. |
| A$2.494 billion to A$3.005 billion | Best-case and worst-case scenarios in the 2022 business case, reviewed by the Parliamentary Budget Office Victoria. These are not the later government forecast. | Parliamentary Budget Office Victoria, 2024. |
| More than A$6 billion | The Victorian Government’s July 2023 projected cost of hosting, which it said led to the withdrawal decision. | Victorian Government, July 2023; also recorded by the Victorian Auditor-General. |
| More than A$589 million | The Auditor-General’s aggregate cost of decisions to bid, plan and withdraw; the report said these costs produced no discernible benefit. | Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, 20 March 2024. |
| A$380 million | Agreed payment to the Commonwealth Games parties to settle cancellation liabilities. It is not the projected cost of hosting. | Settlement announced by Commonwealth Sport, 18 August 2023; also recorded by the Auditor-General. |
The two 2022 business-case scenarios and the A$2.6 billion contract expectation are earlier planning figures. The A$6 billion-plus figure was the government’s later forecast for hosting. The A$589 million audit finding and A$380 million settlement concern costs associated with the bid, planning and cancellation—not the same hosting-cost estimate.
The Auditor-General’s report describes the more-than-A$589-million total as the cost of decisions to bid, plan and withdraw, with no discernible benefit. Its separate record of the A$380 million settlement is one component of the post-cancellation financial picture; readers should not add it to or substitute it for the hosting forecast without accounting for the different measures.
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How the decision unfolded
- April 2022: Victoria signed the host contract based on expected gross costs of about A$2.6 billion.
- 18 July 2023: The government announced it would withdraw, saying hosting costs were certain to exceed A$6 billion.
- 18 August 2023: Victoria and the Commonwealth Games parties announced a A$380 million settlement. They also acknowledged that the multi-hub regional model was more expensive than traditional models.
- 20 March 2024: The Victorian Auditor-General published its report on the withdrawal, including the finding that decisions to bid, plan and withdraw had cost more than A$589 million with no discernible benefit.
- 22 October 2024: Commonwealth Sport confirmed Glasgow as the replacement host for the 2026 Games.
- 1 April 2025: Parliament of Victoria reported the findings and recommendations of its inquiry into the decision.
- 23 July–2 August 2026: The Games took place in Glasgow.
What the audit and parliamentary inquiry concluded
The Victorian Auditor-General examined the financial consequences of the withdrawal. Its report’s more-than-A$589-million figure covers decisions to bid, plan and withdraw and is explicitly paired with the finding of no discernible benefit. It is not a revised estimate of what hosting the Games would have cost.
A separate Victorian parliamentary inquiry reported 62 findings and six recommendations. It concluded that failures in the bid and project-approval stages led to the withdrawal. Committee chair David Limbrick said: “To put it simply, the high cost and inability to host the Games as proposed should have been discovered far earlier by the Victorian Government.” That is Limbrick’s assessment as committee chair, as quoted in Parliament of Victoria’s 1 April 2025 report coverage; it is distinct from the Auditor-General’s financial finding.
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Where the 2026 Commonwealth Games were held
Glasgow was confirmed as the 2026 host on 22 October 2024. The Games ran from 23 July to 2 August 2026, with a ten-sport programme across four venues, according to Commonwealth Sport’s Glasgow 2026 information.
Glasgow’s plan differed from Victoria’s proposed regional, multi-hub model, but the available figures do not support a like-for-like cost comparison. The plans had different scope and timing, and a valid comparison would need to align the programme, venues, delivery model and financial responsibilities. Glasgow’s hosting does not change what Victoria’s cancelled proposal was forecast to cost or what Victoria paid to settle its cancellation liabilities.
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