Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will this morning announce that plans for the state to host the Commonwealth Games in 2026 will be cancelled, the ABC understands.
I'm reading lots of headlines saying thst this is an embarrassment. However almost everyone at my work, here & on reddit seem really happy the the commonwealth games have been cancelled.
We must be pretty solid in our collective opinion in Victoria considering we keep electing a set of parties the media in this country are obviously and demonstrably biased against, hey.
The difference in coverage compared to what Gladys has gotten (who was found to be corrupt), is startling.
But even though I think it's a good thing, it is an embarrassment.
Announcing that you're going to host, putting money / effort state-wide into preparing, and then dropping it is embarrassing. It sends a message that you can't adequately plan for large events, and that your commitments aren't worth much. I can't really blame the opposition for trying to make some hay from it.
As a Brisbanite, this makes me wonder...what are the conditions of the contract with the Commonwealth Games, and how do they compare to the Olympic Games? Would it be this simple for a future Brisbane Council/Qld Government to decide to axe the Brisbane Olympics?
Brisbane won the Olympics on an everything-is-already-built-so-no-blow-out-in-cost-likely campaign, and they were basically the only credible bid so got it with no contest. I think the Gabba is being upgraded because it was due for a face-lift anyway. Something like that - bris olympics is different situation.
And I think Bris Olympics only lacks accommodation facilities which will be built, then those apartments will very much help with the housing crisis after Olympics, so it all works and helps the city in the long run.
And pretty large satellite cities share the load, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, is a point of difference also.
Thats's my vague understanding, but don't quote me.
That was definitely how it was sold, for sure. It seems to be rather less true in practice than it actually was stated, though. Among the works being done:
A complete rebuild of the Gabba. Not a "face-lift", but a complete demolition and rebuild.
The school near the Gabba to be completely shut down to make way for an athletics warmup track, with its "replacement" to be located in a completely different catchment area
The new final form of the planned Victoria Park/Barrambin upgrades to be delayed by essentially half a decade or more to allow for the BMX and cross-country equestrian
A few other new or upgraded venues that are, at least in my opinion, much less controversial because they're not big-ticket items and will easily be much-used by their sporting community post-Olympics.
I'm actually pretty pro-Olympics in general, especially compared to the majority of the Brisbane threddiverse, but these specifically are problems that do bug me.