The Greater Shepparton Business Network says local firms had already started planning for opportunities the Commonwealth Games would bring the city and that it is a “great disappointment” those will not be realised.
The Victorian Government’s decision to withdraw from hosting the Games in regional areas of the state in 2026 means Greater Shepparton will no longer host BMX, road cycling and cultural events.
“It’s a great disappointment, there’s no doubt about that,” network president John Anderson said.
“I know there were big businesses and people looking forward to what it would bring — the hospitality, the visitation, the accommodation, everything that goes with an influx of people and just putting our region on the map, that’s all gone.”
In a June press release, the Industry Capability Network, a group of industry procurement and supply chain specialists that links businesses to projects across Australia and New Zealand, hailed the good fortune the Commonwealth Games would bring regional Victorian centres.
“The Games are expected to contribute more than $3 billion to Victoria’s economy, create more than 600 full-time equivalent jobs in the lead up, 3900 jobs during, and a further 3000 jobs beyond,” ICN senior industry liaison Andrew Bradley said.
“This doesn’t include additional jobs created or supported throughout the supply chain.”
Mr Anderson said network members were planning to attend a “regional showcase” hosted by ICN at Kialla on Wednesday, July 26, which was to advise local businesses on how they could tap into those income streams.
“All these meetings kept being offered,” Mr Anderson said.
“Two of those people (network board members) were looking forward to going to that so they could find out if they have any chance of being able to provide services, so that was just last night (Monday, July 17), so that’s gone.”
The ICN has not responded to News attempts to get its view on the cancellation of the Games.
A three-day workshop was also held in the city in June encouraging Indigenous-owned or -run businesses to take advantage of the promised Games commercial injection.
Mr Anderson said the region would now pivot to focus on the more than $2 billion funding the state government had committed for running the Games and now says will go towards sporting and housing needs and tourism promotion in the regions.
Premier Daniel Andrews has said Shepparton’s BMX track will be upgraded, but so far no details on that or any other benefits for the region have been confirmed.
Mr Anderson would like to see a new indoor sports stadium to come from sports funding the government has promised to spend in regional Victoria, but he does not hold a lot of confidence that will happen.
“Absolutely, absolutely. Definitely a new stadium is what we need here and have for a long time, so if we can leverage off that and get a positive out of it then yes, that would be excellent,” Mr Anderson said.
“The only problem with that is they (the government) weren’t going to be spending much money in Shepparton anyway so they will probably, at a guess, be sending the money off to Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland and Geelong.”
Rural Councils Victoria has welcomed the government’s commitment to a $1 billion fund to build 1300 new social and affordable housing in rural and regional areas as part of the Games fallout.
“We will advocate strongly to ensure that rural Victoria gets its fair share of those homes,” RCV chair Mary-Ann Brown said.
“The Rural Victoria Housing Blueprint, commissioned by RCV and delivered by SGS Economics & Planning, identified the need for about 5800 new starts per year over 15 years to deliver the 87,400 new homes rural Victorian communities will need.”
In Shepparton for a matter related to his role as Minister for Crime Prevention, Anthony Carbines said Greater Shepparton could still expect to benefit from an economic boost, despite it no longer hosting Games events.
“There will be other opportunities and the Shepparton business community should know that we understand that that’s important to them and they’ll be at the centre of our discussions about how that $2 billion infrastructure and investment for regional communities, quarantined for those who were hosting Games activities, will be delivered,” he said.