Geelong Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jeremy Crawford said this week’s announcement that the 2026 Commonwealth Games would not go ahead was “not a huge shock”.
Citing a cost blowout from the budgeted $2.6 billion to possibly over $7 billion, Premier Daniel Andrews cancelled the Games, which was to be held in Geelong and three other regional hubs.
Despite the Games’ cancellation, Mr Andrews recommitted to the legacy infrastructure promises that were part of the larger Games project, including new and upgraded sporting facilities and social and affordable housing in Geelong and regional Victoria.
Mr Crawford said that while the announcement was surprising in that “no one saw it coming” there had been “low confidence” among the business sector.
“There has been very low confidence due to a lack of clarity and certainty coming out of the government, especially over the last few months or so,” he said.
“We haven’t had any businesses that have been hanging their future hopes and dreams on the Commonwealth Games.
“But what we have had is obviously some feedback from different parts of the business community who might be impacted by this, particularly our sporting organisations that we partner with the chamber.
“The business sentiment is that what we’re looking forward to is working with the government on where this investment is going to and making sure that it’s utilised appropriately.”
Mr Crawford said there were some businesses who had begun planning for the Games.
“There are some businesses that I spoke to today who were looking at growing, expanding or even starting because of the opportunity of the Commonwealth Games,” he said.
“There are probably in the minority, but what we really want to make sure of is that when the investment goes into some of these bricks and mortar projects whether it’s sporting stadia, community provisions or even a regional tourism package, that the ability for the services to be sustainably delivered is there with that support as well.”
Mr Crawford said there were more than 4000 jobs to be created from the Games, pre- post- and during the event.
“And that has a lot of affiliate industries that would have ridden the wave of putting Geelong on the map internationally including the tourism sector, the hospitality sector and a lot of the retailers that obviously would have benefitted from a huge increase in foot traffic in and around the Geelong regions and sporting precincts,” he said.
“With all of that now seemingly completely lost, what we want to know is how can get the government to work with organisations like the Chamber and others to make sure that those opportunities for businesses still exist and over the next period of time where there’s investment going in there that the provision of those services would have been offered for businesses to tap into, there still remains opportunities for them to grow.”
