Cooks Gardens in central Whanganui. Photo / Bevan Conley
Cooks Gardens in central Whanganui. Photo / Bevan Conley
During last week's public mayoral forum, candidate Andrew Tripe pledged to investigate co-hosting the Commonwealth Games in Whanganui and neighbouring districts ahead of a potential bid for the 2034 Games.
But would hosting such a major event be feasible? Mike Tweed reports.
Whanganui mayoral candidate Andrew Tripe says he was inspired by the successful bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will take place in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland in regional Victoria, Australia.
"This will not only give us renewed confidence and energy, but it will also invite government and commercial investment, new jobs, and generally supercharge our economy," he told the audience.
Whanganui and Palmerston North would be the main centres for what would be a 'Heartland' Games.
"In Whanganui, we have been really good at saying no to stuff in the past," Tripe said.
"We need some excitement, what I call a catalytic initiative or project that will really put us on the map," Tripe said.
Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith told the Chronicle a full Commonwealth Games might be out of reach but there was no reason why the two regions couldn't partner to host the Youth Commonwealth Games.
Smith was involved in the 2015 youth games in Samoa when he worked for World Squash.
The sheer number of competitors would make a full Commonwealth Games difficult to host, Smith said.
"You have to create a village for them. There's all that infrastructure you have to put in at certain levels, and you have to make sure you're not paying for that for decades to come," he said.
"They (youth games) like to use existing facilities, they cap the number of competitors so it doesn't get out of hand, and they share it around to slightly smaller places rather than capital cities," he said.
Andrew Tripe drew inspiration from the 2026 games in Victoria. Photo / Bevan Conley
Auckland was the last New Zealand city to host the games, in 1990.
The Victorian government has allocated $A2.6 billion from its 2022/23 budget for 2026 games preparation.
Tripe said he thought the Heartland project would attract a lot of central government money, and with some sporting facilities in Whanganui already in place, there wouldn't be a burden on the ratepayers.
But he said an exploration phase would be needed to calculate exact costs and find out what criteria were required for hosting the event.
"First of all we have to explore the possibility of a Commonwealth Games. If there is a decision not to go ahead then so be it."
Tripe said he would support a youth Commonwealth Games as a back up.
Incumbent Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall believed a full Commonwealth Games "would be a bridge too far" but would support a bid for the Youth Commonwealth Games.
He and the mayors from Palmerston North, Manawatu and Rangitīkei had an in-depth look into hosting the Invictus Games three years ago, he said.
Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall. Photo / Bevan Conley
"Cooks Gardens is rated as world class, we had the velodrome, and the games village was proposed to be at Manfeild.
"There are obviously tremendous facilities over in Palmerston North as well.
"In the end it just didn't stack up. Going for the full Commonwealth Games, with the amount of cost and lack of likelihood of getting it, I think that's a bridge too far."
Manawatu District mayor Helen Worboys said she was behind Tripe's idea.
"It's about getting like-minded people together who say 'Yep, we can do this'.
"The groundwork is already there from our work to get the Invictus Games.
"Maybe it would be a lower North Island bid, who knows? Wellington could be a part of it but we get people out to the provinces as well."
One thing missing from the region is an international airport.
"Wellington at the moment is the logical place if we don't get one in this part of the world in the next 10 years," Tripe said.
"It could be that there's the opening and closing ceremony in Wellington. For the 2026 games, the opening ceremony is at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)."
Andrew Tripe says bidding for the games would get projects like roofing the velodrome over the line. Photo / Bevan Conley
McDouall said when he was investigating the feasibility of the Invictus Games, there were questions about government support and about Wellington being hooked into the bid.
Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith had an active role in the 2015 Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa. Photo / Supplied
As soon as Wellington was involved Whanganui "would be marginalised a bit".
"A lot of these dreams flounder on the rocks of pragmatism but that doesn't mean you can't have them. I've had big ideas for the past six years.
"You explore them, you test them, you look at the practicalities and the cost."
Board chair for economic development agency Whanganui & Partners, Pahia Turia, said he presumed there would be certain criteria a host must meet.
"I think we would fail on every single front unless we were prepared to make significant investment," he said.
"At the end of the day, I'm not opposed to people having big ideas and I'm not saying we should just stick to our knitting, I just don't know if this is the big idea."
"In saying that, who would have thought there would be a rocket lab on the Mahia Peninsula? If someone had raised that as a mayoral candidate, people would have told them they were crazy."
Whanganui and Partners board chair Pahia Turia. Photo / Supplied
Fellow mayoral candidate DC Harding said there were other issues such as homelessness and there wasn't enough time before 2034 for Whanganui to prepare.
"We are going to need multiple hotels, a better transport system and access to infrastructure we don't have," he said.
"Maybe in 2044, but definitely not in 2034, that's for sure."
