Victorian government hired lawyers weeks before Commonwealth Games cancellation

Law firm was engaged well before cabinet decision to cancel 2026 event, but Jacinta Allan says it came amid rising cost estimates

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The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has confirmed the government hired lawyers weeks before the public was told that it was cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games - and a day after she told an inquiry the event would go ahead.

The premier told question time on Wednesday that her predecessor, Daniel Andrews, informed her he had engaged lawyers on 14 June, more than a month before the state government made the announcement it wasn't going ahead with the event on 18 July.

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