Dan Andrews defiant after revelations he ignored advice, exaggerated costs in humiliating Commonwealth Games debacle

• By Avi Yemini

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Dan Andrews has refused to apologise for cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games, telling reporters he's 'not sorry' and instead talking up how his government would instead redirect funds to Labor government initiatives.

It came after shocking accusations he wilfully ignorred critical planning advice and grossly exaggerated cost overruns in a planning disaster.

Commonwealth Games Australia boss Craig Phillips slammed the Victorian Premier, revealed that he only heard about the games being scrapped hours before Andrews’ press conference on Tuesday.

But Andrews remained defiant amid public calls for his resignation after the humiliating debacle, fronting journalists on Wednesday. 

“The stated cost overruns in our opinion are a gross exaggeration and not reflective of the operation costs presented to the Victorian 2026 Organising Committee as recently as June this year," Phillips said in a damning statement.

“The Victorian Government wilfully ignored recommendations to move events to purpose-built stadia in Melbourne and in fact remained wedded to expensive temporary venues in regional Victoria.

“The Victorian government… has jeopardised Melbourne and Victoria’s standing as a sporting capital of the world.”

Phillips said Andrews's claim that costs could amount to more than $7 billion were bogus.

"Some of those suggestions from us were to start to look at being pragmatic and reduce the reliance on temporary builds in regional locations," he said.

"Coming back to existing venues, particularly here in Melbourne, (we) talked about the velodrome earlier. But we were told very clearly by the Victorian Government, 'not interested'."

Sensationally, Phillips warned sporting organisations around the world that they should not deal with the Victorian Labor Government at all.

“(It's) Absolutely embarrassing," he said.

“I would be very careful if I was an international sporting body coming in and doing business in this state in the future."

Andrews stunned the sporting world yesterday when he casually announced the termination of Victoria’s deal to host the 2026 Games.

He claimed costs had ballooned from $2.6 billion to potentially more than $7 billion.

But the Commonwealth Games Federation insisted the figure was “50 per cent more” than the cost mentioned in meetings by the Andrews’ government only a month ago.

“Since awarding Victoria the games, the Government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the CGF and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA),” they said.