The first day of the hearings on Monday saw several witnesses from Commonwealth Games Australia speak, although the organisation’s president Ben Houston said they wouldn’t comment further on the $380 million compensation settlement with Victoria.
He said that was in the interests of finding a new host for the Games, preferably in Australia.
Commonwealth Games Australia officials said they became aware in April that costs were blowing out.
Suggestions for cheaper alternatives were made, but they didn’t get any feedback from the state government on those before Premier Daniel Andrews announced Victoria was pulling out.
Representatives from Ernst and Young were quizzed on their business case costings for the Games, leading to some spicy interactions with some of the committee members Sarah Henderson and Bridget McKenzie.
Several witnesses from the Geelong region appeared yesterday, including Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan, Committee for Geelong CEO Michael Johnston and Geelong Region Alliance CEO Guilia Baggio.
They spoke about their disappointment at losing the investment and funding that was to go along with the Games.
“You’ll never be able to replace the eyes on Geelong and eyes on regional Victoria,” Cr Sullivan said.
There were also contributions yesterday from VicSport, and Bass Coast mayor Michael Whelan.
Former Victorian government minister Martin Pakula also appeared but was reluctant to go into much detail about preparations for the Games given he’s no longer an MP.
That led to a bit of verbal sparring with some of the committee members who were keen for a bit more input given the Victorian government declined to be involved in the hearings.
We also heard yesterday from Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate, who said his city was keen to step in to host the games, but the Queensland government poured cold water on the idea.
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