With the Commonwealth Games joining many things in the modern world being cancelled, this shock decision by the Victorian government (that likes to pedal the view that Melbourne is the sports events capital of the nation) raises numerous critically important questions.

Here they are:

1. What does this do to Australia’s reputation when we pitch for global sporting events?
2. What sports, hospitality and tourism businesses will lose because of the decision?
3. Will the voters who supported Premier Dan Andrews at the 2022 election think they were a victim of the old salesman’s trick known as “bait and switch?”
4. Will the Victorians, who inexplicably voted for Dan Andrews after he imposed draconian lockdown rules during the pandemic but still registered the most Covid deaths of any state, keep voting for him?

Interestingly, the attack on Dan Andrews, and this incredible decision for any Australian government to dump a sporting event with such history, has been subdued. The sporting bodies clearly are up in arms, but the Business Council of Australia hasn’t come out screaming. Fellow Labor mates in Canberra, such as PM Albanese, pointed to our great reputation for holding events but few have attacked Dan as the man who has let down a lot of people.

Of course, Dan is a master politician. Aspiring political schemers of the future should study this guy because he is an election-winning genius.

This is his defence and it’s a ripper.

As the SMH reported today, “Premier Daniel Andrews cancelled the Games on Tuesday, claiming the cost of the event had ballooned to between $6.2 billion and $7 billion, almost triple the initial $2.6 billion cost budgeted 15 months ago when Victoria successfully bid for the event.”

But wait there’s more, which underlines his Harry Houdini skills: “The government has confirmed it would still spend $2 billion on Games-related projects and support for regional areas, while the size of the compensation bill for breaking its contract remains unknown.”

I hate to do this, but there’s even more from this master politician.

Dan actually said he wasn’t prepared to spend $7 billion … on a 12-day sporting event” and the money was better spent on hospitals and schools (which is a social decision that most sensible people would agree with) but why didn’t he try that before the election?

And isn’t $2 billion for hospital and schools better than $2 billion for sporting events?

Why doesn’t he kill all money for sports, the arts and everything that’s less important than schools and hospitals? Well, that because sports, the arts and everything that brings people to Melbourne and Victoria is good for the Victorian economy.

Andrews supported the idea that Visit Victoria came up with to spread the Games around regional Victoria, which was likely to prove to be more valuable for the State than just dumping the Games in Melbourne. The capital had hosted the 2006 Games and this regional approach got a big thumbs up.

Unfortunately, in the post-pandemic world of inflation and spiking building costs, the bill for the Games went from around $2 billion to $7 billion, which not only tells us how expensive building is nowadays but how hopeless the ‘experts’ were who initially scoped and valued the cost of the future work! Failed consultants again.

Smart politicians like Dan Andrews know people and we’d all agree that $7 billion for a 12-day event is outrageous but the money wasn’t for 12 days. The investment leaves behind sporting facilities, builds tourism businesses and sporting events of the future – we economists call this the multiplier effect. This could give regional areas a greater and more sustainable tourism brand for the future.

The money would create jobs in building and pour funds into the local economies that benefit from the spending.

This disappointing story should expose two culprits. The first culprit is the consultants who once called this a $2 billion job, which then became a potential $7 billion white elephant.  How does that happen? Why does that happen? And who’s to blame?

And then Dan himself should be pilloried for his “bait and switch” election pitch. All those voters in Victoria in the regions earmarked for these great projects and potential business opportunities can rightfully feel cheated.

Anyone expecting to see Dan punished for this, doesn’t realise just how good a politician he is.