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Lawyers were hired to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games at least three weeks before the Victorian government told the public, leaving taxpayers with a legal bill of $1.27 million.
Documents reveal the state’s top public servant, Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Jeremi Moule, travelled to London to inform UK Games officials of the withdrawal three days before the cancellation was announced – and two days before cabinet signed off on the decision.
Then premier Daniel Andrews and his deputy Jacinta Allan announcing the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games on July 18.Credit: Joe Armao
The Commonwealth Games Federation in London and Commonwealth Games Australia were given just eight hours’ notice before the state government made the announcement on July 18. The government was still spruiking the Games in the lead-up to the cancellation.
In June, law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler was hired for “legal services regarding withdrawal from hosting 2026 Commonwealth Games”. The $1.27 million contract ran until September 21.
That cost is on top of the $380 million settlement the government reached with Games organisers.
Premier Jacinta Allan, then deputy to Daniel Andrews and the minister responsible for delivering the Games, at the time blamed an almost threefold escalation in costs – to as much as $7 billion – when the government dumped the event.
Details of the legal costs emerged via Department of Premier and Cabinet questionnaire responses to the parliament’s upper house inquiry into the saga.
Moule flew to London on July 15 to “personally advise the Commonwealth Games Federation of the Victorian government’s decision to withdraw from hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games”.
They were informed in the early hours of July 18, Melbourne time. The future of the 2026 event remains uncertain, with an alternative host yet to be identified.
Moule was away for a week at a total cost of $22,115, including almost $15,000 in airfares and $6200 in accommodation.
The Department of Premier and Cabinet also engaged barrister Frances Gordon, KC, for 17 days in August for legal services to dump the Games for an additional $19,745.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto said: “This is further evidence of how Labor has torched taxpayers money and another reason why Jacinta Allan needs to appear before the parliamentary inquiry and explain her role in the Commonwealth Games debacle.”
When asked if she would appear before the inquiry in state parliament, Allan said the government was focused on delivering housing and other priorities to the regions.
“We are focused on delivering for Victorians, doing the hard work for Victorians right now, not engaging in those political activities that others want to in the Legislative Council,” Allan said.
Hearings for the upper house inquiry begin next week, with the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions, the Office of the Commonwealth Games, Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the Victoria 2026 government-appointed committee.
A Senate inquiry and the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office are also scrutinising the cancellation.
A separate bipartisan parliamentary committee has called on the state government to release more details of the $6 billion to $7 billion figure used to justify cancelling the Games.
In its report into the 2023-24 budget estimates process, the public accounts and estimates committee said the difference between the $2.6 billion initial cost and the final estimate was so large that it would be useful for the community to know how both figures were drafted.
“In the interest of further transparency regarding the cancellation of the Games, the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions should also consider publishing information regarding how the revised forecast was estimated,” the report said.
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