Why has Australia pulled out of hosting the Commonwealth Games 2026?
Australia's Victoria state has withdrawn due to an increase in costs.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games are left hanging in the balance after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting because of budget concerns.
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations: a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire.
The only occasion the games have been cancelled was during the Second World War.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had difficulty finding a host before Victoria volunteered in April 2022.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said in a statement today (Tuesday 18th July) that his government agreed to host the event last year "but not at any cost".
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Why has Australia pulled out of hosting the Commonwealth Games 2026?
Organisers of the event had estimated that the event - hosted across five regional cities including Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat - would cost A$2.6bn (£1.4bn; $1.8bn). However, recent projections put the potential cost as high as 7 billion Australian dollars (£3.7 billion).
In a news conference today, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said he had informed the Commonwealth Games organisers of his government's decision to pull out of the hosting contract.
"Today is not about finding fault with those cost estimates," Andrews said. "Frankly, 6-7 billion Australian dollars for a 12-day sporting event, we are not doing that - that does not represent value for money, that is all costs and no benefit."
The 12-day tournament was due to commence on the 17th -29th March 2026 in the regional centres of Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton in regional Victoria.
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The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) responded with disappointment to the news and claimed they were blindsided by the decision.
They added that the state government's choice to host the game across multiple cities and add more sports to the games has added "considerable expense" to the event, and that the estimate of A$6bn is double the amount they were advised of at a conference last month.
"We are disappointed that we were only given eight hours' notice and that no consideration was given to discussing the situation to jointly find solutions prior to this decision being reached by the government," the governing body said on Tuesday. "Up until this point, the government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.
"We are taking advice on the options available to us and remain committed to finding a solution for the Games in 2026 that is in the best interest of our athletes and the wider Commonwealth Sport Movement."
Australia has held the Commonwealth Games five times - including on the Gold Coast in 2018 and in the Victorian capital of Melbourne in 2006 - but none of the country's states have volunteered to take on the event.
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