The Games were to be held in March 2026 in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton, but Premier Daniel Andrews says they will be called off.
To echo my comment from the Melbourne thread. I think it’s a good thing and wish more governments would call off projects as soon as they realise the cost is going to blow out.
Better to waste a small amount of money up front, than an extra $4B later.
What I want to know though is how the costs blew out from $2.7bil to $6bil-7bil? I know they were only announced as having the games last year, but do we know when they would have done the proposal and budget? That’s an absolutely massive difference.
Yeah I got a few quotes to get a 2.5 bay shed made and installed 2 years ago…… almost $50k lol. From a local company that had made ones for my friends and family for less than half that a few years earlier. Blamed the price of steel.
A regional games was going to cost 2,600 million dollars. Up to 6,000 million dollars. Over a million dollars per athlete, plus all the government funding over the years to train these people.
To echo my comment from the Melbourne thread. I think it’s a good thing and wish more governments would call off projects as soon as they realise the cost is going to blow out.
Better to waste a small amount of money up front, than an extra $4B later.
Value for money should always be in the conversation. Feels like a lot of policy gets held hostage by a sunk cost / we already announced it trap.
If you never cancel anything it sends the wrong message to under quote and jack up the price later.
Absolutely.
What I want to know though is how the costs blew out from $2.7bil to $6bil-7bil? I know they were only announced as having the games last year, but do we know when they would have done the proposal and budget? That’s an absolutely massive difference.
My guess… probably the usually grifting and bribing that tags along with these sort of events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.
Glad to see some pushback on this shit. Too many people turn a blind eye because it’s supposedly a big grand event.
I’ve seen construction quotes that have doubled in the last 2 years.
The construction sector has gone spastic in the last couple of years and contracts with hard completion dates are a license for trades to print money.
Yeah I got a few quotes to get a 2.5 bay shed made and installed 2 years ago…… almost $50k lol. From a local company that had made ones for my friends and family for less than half that a few years earlier. Blamed the price of steel.
I honestly wish Brisbane would do the same with the Olympics.
I reckon we should be using bigger numbers.
A regional games was going to cost 2,600 million dollars. Up to 6,000 million dollars. Over a million dollars per athlete, plus all the government funding over the years to train these people.
Yeah, good call to axe it