Cancelling the Commonwealth Games

was a mistake. It was a big mistake.

Anyone who knows me also knows I have no interest in "sport" of any sort apart from a minimal interest in the psychology of the game of cricket. There will be plenty of people who will assume I couldn't care less about something like the Commonwealth Games. 

If the Games had taken place that would be correct. I would not have watched any of the events. I would not have any idea what the medal tallies were. My only concerns would have been nobody was injured  and that the inevitable drugs-in-sport thing was found to be minimal. 

But cancelling the Games is something that does concern me, as it will concern many other people. Premier Andrews has done the wrong thing. It is wrong on more than one level.

The Games were a contract. It was a contract made for a political purpose - to win an election. There was always going to be a "cost blow-out". Such events always cost more than it is stated they will. Governments actually factor that sort of thing into their considerations. Their bottom line is not "how much will this cost the taxpayer" but "will this win us another term in office?" Andrews was banking on that...and won.

The Games were going to be held all over the state. The regions, where support might have been slipping, were suddenly well and truly on side again. It was going to mean new sports facilities and plenty of visitors who would inject large quantities of much needed cash into the regions. 

Andrews had already lost another big contract for the state, this one with China. The Federal government had, quite rightly, put a stop to that one. The proposed project might have employed many people for a number of years but the cost far outweighed the perceived value. Whether Andrews will now try and renegotiate that given the other side of politics, a side very sympathetic to Beijing, is now in power is something we will have wait and see.

But the Games are a different story. They are a twelve day event held every four years. Some people say "the Commonwealth" is "outdated" and needs to be scrapped as an organisation altogether. A former Senator I knew well was strongly opposed to the idea of the Commonwealth. She wanted rid of it and would have campaigned against it. When I suggested that any group of nations, particularly such a diverse one as the Commonwealth, which could meet and work together on anything was surely something to use she simply shrugged. I say the Commonwealth has changed but it still has a function. It is every bit as valuable as the United Nations, perhaps more so in some ways. 

And the athletes competing would have come from all those places. They could, would and should have been able to meet other athletes, mingle and make friends. Yes, you might fiercely compete on field and in the pool but there are friendships made outside competition. 

All those athletes have been preparing for months. It gives athletes from less well off countries a chance to compete and propels some of them into the Olympics. Those things might not matter to me but they do matter to a lot of other people.

And out there in the regions people were preparing to host visitors, a lot of visitors. They were preparing accommodation and welcoming  events. They were upgrading facilities and even building them using money they hoped to get from the influx of visitors.  

There are other people who had arranged holidays to fit in with those dates, even booked flights and accommodation. There are governments and other organisations who had spent money preparing for an event in that location.

There will be a financial cost to the cancellation of course but it won't cover the losses of many of those involved. In all likelihood it won't even cover the losses incurred by the organisation itself. It has also done immense harm to the reputation of the state in question, perhaps to us as a country. 

I am not interested in the Games as such but I am interested in those things. It is a breach of contract.