Commonwealth Games: Victoria to pay $380m in compensation after cancelling 2026 event

The Victorian government has agreed to pay Commonwealth Games bodies $380m in compensation after cancelling the 2026 event.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, made the shock announcement last month that Victoria would not host the Games as planned due to concerns they would far exceed initial cost expectations.

Following the announcement, mediation was launched between the State of Victoria, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Commonwealth Games Federation Partnerships (CGFP) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA).

Lawyers for the state government travelled to London last month to negotiate what the cost would be for terminating the contract.

Following confidential “good faith” discussions, Victoria agreed to pay the three parties a total of $380m.

“All parties engaged respectfully and made appropriate concessions in order to reach an agreement,” the groups said in a joint statement.

Appointed as mediators in the process were former New Zealand judge Kit Toogood KC and the former chief justice of the Western Australia supreme court, Wayne Martin AC KC.

In cancelling the regional Victorian Games on 18 July, Andrews cited a forecast rise in cost from $2.6bn to between $6bn and $7bn.

During mediation the Commonwealth Games parties also agreed that the multi-hub regional model was more expensive to host than the traditional models.

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State and federal inquiries have been set up to investigate the cancellation of the 2026 Games.