Taxpayers Foot Additional $1.3 Million Bill for Cancellation of Commonwealth Games

Opposition leader John ­Pesutto said the Victorian Premier ’must come clean' on when the former Andrews government decided to cancel the Games.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia, on July 18, 2023. James Ross/AAP Image

Victorian taxpayers have forked out over $1.2 million (US$762 million) in legal fees following the decision by the state’s former premier to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The additional hit to Victoria’s ballooning debt comes as the true cost blowout from the Commonwealth Games fiasco was revealed in an upper house inquiry.