Star alignment: State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed wants Goulburn Valley sports stars to back the region’s campaign to host Commonwealth Games events in 2026.
Photo by
Holly Curtis
State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed has suggested calling on the Goulburn Valley’s sporting champions to advocate for the city as the region fights to host events and benefit from infrastructure upgrades as part of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
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The Victorian Government announced on Tuesday that four hubs — Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland — would be the major hosts of at least 16 events for the Games.
Those regions will benefit from the bulk of the investment required to bring facilities up to standard for the Games, which attract more than 72 nations and territories from across the globe.
The government’s decision means Greater Shepparton and other regions north of the Great Dividing Range face an uncertain wait to find out what events they will be assigned, if any.
In his press conference, Premier Daniel Andrews promised Shepparton would host some sports and cultural events, but declined to say which ones.
Ms Sheed said Greater Shepparton must mobilise all its resources to ensure it won as many of the remaining events as possible.
“I think we need to get organised very quickly to configure what the list of sports are that are available, what we might be able to do best and what facilities we have or could be improved by government investment and allow us to host some of them and start advocating in that space,” she said.
“Look at all our hall of fame sporting champions and see what sports they align with and get them to advocate for us as a community.”
Ignored: Shepparton Chamber of Commerce and Industry president John Anderson believes the Victorian Government’s Commonwealth Games decision ignores the region’s great assets.
In a decision City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Kim O’Keeffe described as “hard to know the reasoning” behind the Victorian Government leaving Shepparton off its list of major hubs that will host at least 16 sports for the Games, even though the concept of a “regional Games” was germinated in the city.
Mr Andrews named Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland as the four hubs that would benefit from the bulk of the infrastructure spend and economic injection.
Despite major regional centres such as Shepparton, Wodonga and Mildura being left out of the initial announcement, Mr Andrews insisted the Games would bring huge benefits to all of regional Victoria.
“It’ll be the greatest spotlight, the greatest showcase of all that we have to offer in not just sport, but in tourism, in food and wine, in experiences, in just quality across regional Victoria. It’ll be the greatest showcase that we can offer, that we’ve perhaps ever seen,” Mr Andrews said.
Shepparton Chamber of Commerce and Industry president John Anderson said he felt the region had been “ignored”.
“I think that’s a pretty reasonable comment to make,” he said.
“We feel ignored and quite deflated because it was an opportunity to showcase Shepparton in a really big way and that’s been lost.
“Does the state of Victoria stop somewhere south of Seymour? There’s been that thing that Victoria stops at Broadmeadows. I think it’s changed a bit since then, but it makes you wonder.
“Are they not aware of what we have here? In a lot of ways, when they talk about regional cities, Shepparton is often left off that major regional city list.”
Mr Anderson agrees that the city’s representatives now have to get lobbying to win as much benefit as possible from what Games events are left to be distributed.
He said the city’s location in northern Victoria was far from being a disadvantage.
“You could say that it’s an easy drive from Bendigo to Shepparton, but to get from Bendigo and Ballarat to Gippsland, you have to travel right across Melbourne,” he said.
“Gippsland can’t bring people in from the north, they have to cross the mountains. We can bring them in from the east, south, west and the north from NSW.
“We’ve got no restriction at all on the visitor numbers we could draw on.”
A government spokesman said the four regions were chosen ahead of Shepparton because of their superior assets.
“The Games hubs were selected based on factors such as availability of sporting infrastructure that would be suitable for competition, availability of accommodation for spectators and logistics for athletes to get to and from their competitions,” the spokesman said.
Ms Sheed said the region could not afford to dwell on the disappointment of missing out on being appointed one of the major hubs and must now work on winning any other benefits it could.
“I’m disinclined to say, ‘oh gosh, I’m disappointed, let’s all go home’,” she said.
“There’s a lot of work yet to be done, this is just a grand announcement. The four big centres have scored well and Shepparton is going to fight hard for some more oxygen.
“I feel like we will, and we can, get something out of it if we make an effort, and if we don’t, we ‘ll have quite a bit to complain about.”
