Play Nice Random Chat Thread VII

[DesertRoo]

LOL at media who think Australia's international reputation has been tarnished by this.

Wait until the Voice gets voted down lol.,

Andrews is probably getting a pat on the back for single handedly killing the empire games.
If Australia doesn’t find a home for it, I can’t see it lasting much longer.

 

[Del191229]

Andrews is probably getting a pat on the back for single handedly killing the empire games.
If Australia doesn’t find a home for it, I can’t see it lasting much longer.

Funny how all the other states are like ahhhhh nooooooooooooooooooo thanks.

 

[DesertRoo]

Funny how all the other states are like ahhhhh nooooooooooooooooooo thanks.

I think most victorians collective slapped their hands on their face when this shitshow was initially announced.

It felt like the Athens Olympics, people just shook their hands at someone’s obvious ego stroke.

 

[see see]

Andrews is probably getting a pat on the back for single handedly killing the empire games.
If Australia doesn’t find a home for it, I can’t see it lasting much longer.

If that's the case, I'm really going to miss my quadrennial fix of Australia's finest flogging the tripe out of a bunch of developing nations in obscure sports.

Surely ESPN Ocho could stump up the cash to keep this festival of colonial irrelevance afloat?

 

[DaveyBoy123]

This is the kind of thing people always say they want to see from Politicians more often; admitting they were wrong, and reversing course.

Commonwealth Games were budgeted for 2.6b, but estimates blew out to over 6b so the government pulled the plug and diverted the funds.

Seems like a good move. Would be interested to see how people spin it into an attack.

The usual media suspects who have a psychotic fixation on Andrews kept bagging him for hosting them, and I have no doubt they will be able to bag him for cancelling them too lol.

There are no less than 6 NEGATIVE articles on the Herald-Sun website right now... The main one with a photo of Dan Andrews smiling and looking a tad arrogant (probably taken 3 hours later).

Here are the fantastically clickbait headlines for those 6 articles:

• Victoria Just Killed the Commonwealth Games
• Sporting Bodies Turn on Vic Govt
• Comm Games Boss Blasts Cost Claim
• Scapegoat Games; How Andrews Destroyed 'Sporting Capital'
• We'll All Pay for Victoria's Comm Games Distaster
• Long Road Back for Dan after humiliating Comm Games Failure

 

[Hojuman]

John Prosecco - Vic. Opposition leader 12 months ago;
" what a waste of money ! ! ! $$$

Today;
" how dare he cancel the games "

Make up your mind mate.

 

[Hojuman]

If that's the case, I'm really going to miss my quadrennial fix of Australia's finest flogging the tripe out of a bunch of developing nations in obscure sports.

Surely ESPN Ocho could stump up the cash to keep this festival of colonial irrelevance afloat?

I liked beating Lesotho in the hockey 27 - 0 ☹

 

[koshari]

I liked beating Lesotho in the hockey 27 - 0 ☹

Shhhh or cane corn will start beating up on lesotho.

 

[desie]

Funny how all the other states are like ahhhhh nooooooooooooooooooo thanks.

I’ve got no idea how they’ve managed to blow out to $7b.

The Commonwealth Games Association approached NSW on multiple occasions - firstly when Durban pulled out and they eventually ended up in Birmingham.

They later pitched 2026 as 2030 is the centenary of the Empire Games so will logically end up in Canada.

Each time they were told no - preliminary work suggested the cost would be around $1b - even that was ridiculous given the anticipated economic benefit.

They then pitched the regional plan which was even more ridiculous and they were sent packing. Lord only knows why Victoria thought it was a good idea.

 

[Val Keating]

The commonwealth games are shit.

 

[RightWingRoo]

This board is to the left of Lenin, so I generally stay away from politics here.
But I can't let the personality cult, any criticism of Dan is invalid types get away with this one. This is a s***show Not so much the cancellation on it's own, but the fact it's unnecessary and embarrassing.

Sure the Comm games are dying a slow death, but they took them on and made a great song and dance about it at the time.
But if there were any doubts about their commitment to and ability to pay for the games, the contract should never have been signed.
The Vic government deliberately chose the more expensive option of holding it in regional Vic, across multiple hubs. They and everyone knew that the infrastructure wasn't there to hold an international sporting event. The spend to make these areas ready for the games, was always going to be huge.
They chose this option despite always having the much cheaper option, of using the already built venues from the 2006 games in Melbourne. Some venues would've required renovation, but the overall cost would've been far less.

Taking on an event less than 4 years out, with almost none of the required infrastructure in place was always cutting things very fine. It reeked of ego and hubris, typical of the member for Mulgrave.

Not locking in any federal funding before signing the contracts, was also a dumb move. Especially with the Brisbane Olympics already being locked in, and taking the main priority for sport infrastructure funding.
Made the task so much more difficult, putting all the pressure onto themselves and the local councils.

While these games were in general an afterthought, that no one asked for. As a Ballarat resident it's still disappointing to be promised a once in a lifetime in your own city, and have it pulled barely 12 months later.

Getting the original cost estimates so badly wrong, is just incompetence. Ties in with every other major infrastructure project this state attempts.

Had a feeling this was going to end up a farce, but not this quickly. Genuinely hoped I would be wrong on this, because the games could've done a lot of good for Ballarat if managed properly.

To sum up a very long post. Don't take on events, you don't have the resources to manage. It only serves to make you look foolish and force the throwing around of some cash in a face saving exercise.
At best it's incompetence and hubris. At worst a cynical vote buying exercise they never intended to go through on, duping regional communities in the process.

 

[Forever North]

Should never had bid for this rubbish event in the first place. I think we were the only ‘bidders’. This stunt was 100% designed to buy regional votes in the run up to the election. And was then cancelled by Dan as it was the financial responsible thing to do apparentl. How the **** do the govt bean counters, consultants and bureaucrats on big fat salaries get it so wrong. From the initial $2.6 billion to $7+ billion in the matter of month. Incredible ineptitude.

 

[desie]

This board is to the left of Lenin, so I generally stay away from politics here.
But I can't let the personality cult, any criticism of Dan is invalid types get away with this one. This is a s***show Not so much the cancellation on it's own, but the fact it's unnecessary and embarrassing.

Sure the Comm games are dying a slow death, but they took them on and made a great song and dance about it at the time.
But if there were any doubts about their commitment to and ability to pay for the games, the contract should never have been signed.
The Vic government deliberately chose the more expensive option of holding it in regional Vic, across multiple hubs. They and everyone knew that the infrastructure wasn't there to hold an international sporting event. The spend to make these areas ready for the games, was always going to be huge.
They chose this option despite always having the much cheaper option, of using the already built venues from the 2006 games in Melbourne. Some venues would've required renovation, but the overall cost would've been far less.

Taking on an event less than 4 years out, with almost none of the required infrastructure in place was always cutting things very fine. It reeked of ego and hubris, typical of the member for Mulgrave.

Not locking in any federal funding before signing the contracts, was also a dumb move. Especially with the Brisbane Olympics already being locked in, and taking the main priority for sport infrastructure funding.
Made the task so much more difficult, putting all the pressure onto themselves and the local councils.

While these games were in general an afterthought, that no one asked for. As a Ballarat resident it's still disappointing to be promised a once in a lifetime in your own city, and have it pulled barely 12 months later.

Getting the original cost estimates so badly wrong, is just incompetence. Ties in with every other major infrastructure project this state attempts.

Had a feeling this was going to end up a farce, but not this quickly. Genuinely hoped I would be wrong on this, because the games could've done a lot of good for Ballarat if managed properly.

To sum up a very long post. Don't take on events, you don't have the resources to manage. It only serves to make you look foolish and force the throwing around of some cash in a face saving exercise.
At best it's incompetence and hubris. At worst a cynical vote buying exercise they never intended to go through on, duping regional communities in the process.

Anyone who bids and signs up to a major event like this and then reneges citing massive cost blow outs deserves to be embarrassed, I don’t care which jurisdiction it is.

 

[desie]

Should never had bid for this rubbish event in the first place. I think we were the only ‘bidders’. This stunt was 100% designed to buy regional votes in the run up to the election. And was then cancelled by Dan as it was the financial responsible thing to do apparentl. How the * do the govt bean counters, consultants and bureaucrats on big fat salaries get it so wrong. From the initial $2.6 billion to $7+ billion in the matter of month. Incredible ineptitude.

There were no bidders.

The Commonwealth Games Association were desperate for someone to take it, hence they came up with a ‘regional plan’ as a last resort.

 

[DaveyBoy123]

There were no bidders.

The Commonwealth Games Association were desperate for someone to take it, hence they came up with a ‘regional plan’ as a last resort.

Yep... & the even more embarrassing part of the whole Commonwealth Games saga is is that the centenary of the Commonwealth Games has basically been handed to anywhere in Canada (since they held the 1st event in 1930)... But literally every province is trying to take a backward step to allow any other province to host it in 2030.

A shame, but I think the Commonwealth Games are basically going to be history soon... And, whatever the reasons, I doubt it was Victoria that killed them. Durban has just as much claim to that.

 

[ferball]

So was Durban poison?

 

[Val Keating]

Hand on heart I didn’t even know Victoria was going to host the commonwealth games till today

 

[Harris 10]

There are no less than 6 NEGATIVE articles on the Herald-Sun website right now... The main one with a photo of Dan Andrews smiling and looking a tad arrogant (probably taken 3 hours later).

Here are the fantastically clickbait headlines for those 6 articles:

• Victoria Just Killed the Commonwealth Games
• Sporting Bodies Turn on Vic Govt
• Comm Games Boss Blasts Cost Claim
• Scapegoat Games; How Andrews Destroyed 'Sporting Capital'
• We'll All Pay for Victoria's Comm Games Distaster
• Long Road Back for Dan after humiliating Comm Games Failure

Nothing beats this story today:

 

[Del191229]

I’ve got no idea how they’ve managed to blow out to $7b.

The Commonwealth Games Association approached NSW on multiple occasions - firstly when Durban pulled out and they eventually ended up in Birmingham.

They later pitched 2026 as 2030 is the centenary of the Empire Games so will logically end up in Canada.

Each time they were told no - preliminary work suggested the cost would be around $1b - even that was ridiculous given the anticipated economic benefit.

They then pitched the regional plan which was even more ridiculous and they were sent packing. Lord only knows why Victoria thought it was a good idea.

Yeah, they thought they'd be able to deliver it on the cheap, sausage sizzles and the CWA in regional towns, and that wasn't happening.

 

[Del191229]

Taking on an event less than 4 years out, with almost none of the required infrastructure in place was always cutting things very fine. It reeked of ego and hubris, typical of the member for Mulgrave.

Agreed - that ego gets stuff done and it also carries risk.

 

[Lomas]

I’ve got no idea how they’ve managed to blow out to $7b.

The Commonwealth Games Association approached NSW on multiple occasions - firstly when Durban pulled out and they eventually ended up in Birmingham.

They later pitched 2026 as 2030 is the centenary of the Empire Games so will logically end up in Canada.

Each time they were told no - preliminary work suggested the cost would be around $1b - even that was ridiculous given the anticipated economic benefit.

They then pitched the regional plan which was even more ridiculous and they were sent packing. Lord only knows why Victoria thought it was a good idea.

As someone who has done a fair bit of work in rural infrastructure development, I laughed when I first heard the budget.
Then of course Geelong, the jewel in the crown, started pleading broke and the others who were initially exited realized what the ongoing costs of maintaining facilities would be.
The commonwealth games are pretty much dead as a concept anyway, was silly to even take the initial call.

 

[big_e]

FWIW, a guy at my bowling club was at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham watching his daughter compete, said the place was jumping for the whole time.

That said, the concept is an anachronism, literally England and a bunch of places it invaded/colonised/whatever. Not really something to celebrate, imo.

But they've just blown out to a ridiculous level. 1,500 athletes in Brisbane in 1982, up to almost 6,000 in 2022. They just can't be done cheaply anymore.

*Special watch on what happens with the Brisbane Olympics, now. Their bid said it would cost $5 billion. Now they said it'll be almost $3 billion just for the redevelopment of the Gabba.

 

[Dan]

Hand on heart I didn’t even know Victoria was going to host the commonwealth games till today

VFL Olympics

 

[Val Keating]

VFL Olympics

I watch the vfl. Never pay attention to the commonwealth games.

 

[koshari]

LOL at media who think Australia's international reputation has been tarnished by this.

Wait until the Voice gets voted down lol.,

whilst the wisdom to agree to run them in the first place is questionable ( and would have been regardless if they went ahead or not) its a sound decision to cancel them if they don't stack up. whilst i wouldn't know the first thing about the games (other than watching the clarke/daw parody the games) and i really have little interest in them i can only imagine the cost of putting up the athletes is the main expense if they are going ahead with building the assets regardless?