The State Member for Murray Plains said the true tragedy here was that once again regional Victorians would be the ones paying the price.
Mr Walsh said the Commonwealth Games was going to be an international showcase for everything regional Victoria had to offer, but “the alarm bells are going off everywhere as Daniel Andrews tries to find the money for the moment”.
“Daniel Andrews is trying to rip money out of local government to offset costs and has now gone grovelling to his Labor mates in Canberra to kick in half that $2.6 billion to save his irreparable reputation as a money mis-manager,” he said.
Mr Walsh said the 2026 Commonwealth Games was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for all those small businesses within reach of the proposed regional hubs.
“They would have been planning major investments to capitalise on the immediate injection of funds with building projects, followed by the crowds at Games events and then the “slower afterburn” as interstate and overseas tourists come to experience what they should be seeing on TV coverage,” he said.
“Daniel had better pray federal Labor realises what an embarrassment he has become — an advertisement of any Labor government’s total inability to manage the economy — and does bail him out to stop the rest of them looking just as stupid.
“Just take the shooting, for example. The core facility already existed in Echuca, and with Games funding could have been developed into a long-term, world-class competition venue, so Daniel and his brainstrust ignored that and opted to spend millions on a new centre at the other end of the state — and it’s only temporary.
“What a disappointing shambles.”
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