Victoria’s decision to scrap the Commonwealth Games will cost the state $380 million in compensation to Commonwealth Games bodies, it’s been revealed. It comes days after Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart said she wants to see the 2026 Commonwealth Games return to the Gold Coast.
She has given more than $60 million to elite Australian athletes over the last decade. Now Gina Rinehart wants to see the training facilities that our swimmers use benefit from the relocated Commonwealth Games.
“An Olympic standard pool venue at the Gold Coast could then benefit our swimmers and artistic swimmers, in the lead up to the Olympics, and at the Brisbane Olympics itself,” a spokesperson for Rinehart told Forbes Australia.
The current proposal for the Brisbane Olympics pool is a temporary structure that will be removed at the conclusion of the Games. Rinehart argues that building an Olympic-appropriate pool before 2026 gives athletes access to improved facilities for both the Commonwealth Games and the 2032 Olympics.
“Most of our Olympic and World Championship swimmers, and anticipated Commonwealth Games swimmers, train in the Gold Coast area and Brisbane,” Rinehart’s spokesperson said. “So such venue at the Gold Coast would be an ongoing long-term great plan with terrific benefit.”
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The relocated games, which Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews sensationally withdrew from last month, would also have a positive impact on the community and the local economy, according to Australia’s richest person Rinehart.
“A global event like the Commonwealth Games benefits many local businesses and improves the venues for wider benefit for years to come.”
While Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state could not afford another large sporting event, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate wants the federal funding that was going to Victoria to be redirected to his city.
After receiving an ’emphatic no’ from the Queensland Sporting Minister on his proposal to hold the Commonwealth Games on the east coast, Tate is now looking West. He and Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas want the Commonwealth Games to be bi-coastal and shared between the two cities.
