The 2026 Commonwealth Games should have been a shining moment for Australia's athletes on home soil and regional communities but instead the canned event has been reduced to a social media mockery.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground delivered a memorable opening ceremony for the Games' 2006 iteration and was scheduled to host another from Tuesday.
But the ambitious event, slated to be held across regional Victoria, never went ahead after the state government suddenly pulled the pin in July 2023.
The move cost state taxpayers almost $600 million and continues to haunt the Labor government in an election year.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, along with former leaders, poked fun at the games that never were in a comedic social media video on Tuesday.
Ms Wilson can be seen hitting the pool, followed by Brad Battin doing bicep curls with 20kg dumbbells in the gardens of state parliament.
Heading to the track, Matthew Guy takes part in the relay, followed by John Pesutto, rocking blue jeans and white shoes, attempting the discus.
"If the Labor government hadn't had cancelled the Commonwealth Games, today we would have had hundreds of thousands of people excited in Victoria at the opening ceremony," Ms Wilson said.
Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters on Tuesday she did not watch the video, adding that it was not the time for petty politics.
A parliamentary inquiry into the fiasco in 2025 found the Victorian government had "grossly underestimated costs" of the Games, finding it had rushed into hosting the major sports event across regional areas for the wrong reasons.
The inquiry revealed the final decision to cancel the Games, now to be hosted by Glasgow, stemmed from a series of failures at the departmental and ministerial levels.
In April 2022, months before a state election, the government agreed to host the Games at a projected cost of $2.6 billion.
Former premier Daniel Andrews suddenly pulled the pin in July 2023, declaring the price tag had blown out to between $6 billion and $7 billion.
Mr Andrews softened the blow of the cancellation by promising a $2 billion package of sports infrastructure and housing for the regions.
There has been progress on some projects but construction is yet to begin on a promised sports facility at Miners Rest near Ballarat.
Modelling for the original costings overly relied on consultants, was "inadequate and clearly flawed" and based on the 2018 Gold Coast Games.
While some adjustments were made, Gold Coast's single-city model was "radically different" to what Victoria was proposing with hubs in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland.
There was no evidence the Victorian government investigated moving the event to Melbourne, the inquiry found.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said cancellation had a significant immediate impact and was a missed opportunity for the country.
Glasgow's pared-back Games will begin on July 23, featuring just 10 sports, with about $200 million of Victoria's payout put into funding the event.
