CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr WOOD (La Trobe) (10:18): I too would like to rise today to highlight the tremendous success of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Athletes from 74 nations and territories came together in Glasgow for the 23rd games. Australia once again proved why we are one of the greatest sporting nations—I should say the greatest sporting nation.
The medal tally especially was quite incredible, with 164 medals, including 65 gold, 47 silver and 52 bronze—an incredible achievement. Our swimmers dominated the pool, and it was great to see the athletes do so well, especially in the relays. I couldn't believe the results we saw in the men's and women's relays, which puts us in good stead for the Olympic Games.
Congratulations to all involved. But the tragedy of the Commonwealth Games for Victoria was simply this: Victorians were so excited about having the opportunity to host the games in Victoria—it was the Victorian Labor government's commitment to host the games and it would have been so amazing—and, as we heard before when members spoke about athletes performing so well, it would have been so nice for family members and friends to go and see our athletes at, say, the MCG in front of a 100,000 crowd, but instead we saw Glasgow host the games and in a very small stadium.
We have the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, which I know very well because my daughter is in swimming. That is an Olympic-sized, beautiful pool. The facilities there are absolutely amazing, yet the Victorian taxpayer paid $589 million under Labor to not host the games.
Do you know what was even worse? It was when we had our good friends from Scotland holding up signs thanking the Victorian taxpayer for funding the games. You wouldn't believe that, Madam Deputy Speaker—they were thanking us.
The compensation Victoria paid—it's obviously gone into debt for Scotland to host the Games. The stupid thing was that the incompetent state Labor Party tried to put on more events and put events in the regions and not in Melbourne as well as build facilities, yet Melbourne is the home of sport. We've got the Melbourne Cricket Ground and MSAC, as I said, and all these incredible venues such as Olympic Park Stadium.
We could have easily held the games there. So, with the November election coming up, this is simply another reason why we need to vote out Labor. Rather than being the sporting capital of the world, they turned us into the supporting joke of the world.