The lord mayor of Perth is interested, but all Australian state premiers have been quick to rule out hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games after Victoria pulled out on Tuesday.
Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia had all held discussions in previous years about hosting the 2026 Games, which had to be reallocated when Birmingham was brought forward as a host city from 2026 to 2022. This came after Durban in South Africa was stripped of the right to stage the 2022 event.
But all three states – as well as New South Wales and Queensland – on Tuesday ruled out hosting the event.
The lord mayor of Perth, Basil Zempilas, sought to pressure Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, to consider placing a formal bid.
“Here’s how it should work – we tell the [Commonwealth Games Federation] how much we will pay. We tell them “here are our venues” you make YOUR games fit around what we have,” Zempilas tweeted.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES…
— Basil Zempilas (@BasilZempilas) July 18, 2023
Not often you get a second chance like this @CityofPerth
Here’s how it should work - we tell the @thecgf how much we will pay.
We tell them “here are our venues” you make YOUR games fit around what we have.
Perth is in the driver’s seat they need us.
However, Cook quickly shot down the idea saying the state had already taken a “close look” at hosting and found the numbers didn’t stack up.
“Our analysis was consistent with the Victorian government’s analysis that this would cost a significant amount of money and provide very little return on that investment,” Cook said.
He said the state government needed a sustained investment in events, not just a “sugar hit” of a two-week event.
“The Commonwealth Games aren’t what they used to be and as a result of that they don’t provide the return on investment,” he said.
The South Australian government also ruled out bidding to host the games, estimating the cost would outweigh the benefits by nearly three times.
“The previous state government conducted independent financial analysis on hosting the multi-sport competition, it was determined the event would cost $3.5bn, with the economic benefit only amounting to $1.2bn,” a spokesperson said.
Beaten to the punch by Victoria in 2022, the Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said on Tuesday morning he would not revive the state’s bid to hold the games between Launceston and Hobart.
Sport NSW chair, Chris Hall, and former Australian Olympic Committee head John Coates had expressed a desire for Sydney to host, saying the state was ready for an event of that scale after proven successes including the 2000 Olympics.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” Hall said.
“We’ve got the facilities and the venues.”
But the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the state’s budgetary pressures were too great to take on such a burden.
“We’re not bidding for the Commonwealth Games and we’re not taking them on,” he said.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, also ruled out stepping in, saying the state was focused on the 2032 Olympics instead.
The Gold Coast Bulletin reported that Palaszczuk told the Women in Sport Summit: “I’ve had people say to me: ‘Can we run the Commonwealth Games?’
“Well, no we can’t because we’re focused on the Olympics and any extra money we have to put into issues like social housing.”
The Gold Coast hosted the event in 2018 but the city’s acting mayor said it was inconceivable the city would be able to do so again in three years’ time.
Cr Donna Gates said it was “not realistic” for the Gold Coast to host in 2026 and it would be very difficult for any city to step up in “such a short timeframe”.
“Our Games village is tenanted so that’s not an option,” Gates said.
“It would be, I think, impractical to think that any city could step in now with such a short timeframe.
“Our Commonwealth Games were so successful because they were very well planned over 10 years. The same can be said of the 2032 Olympics.”
