We could be waiting months until concrete details on how the state government's $2.6 billion for the 2026 Commonwealth Games is distributed to the regions.
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State Treasurer Tim Pallas, speaking in Ballarat on Friday, said governance committees for the games - less than four years away - had not yet been established.
"There's a process we'll have to go through - firstly we'll have to get the governance structures up and running around how the money is to be spent," he said.
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"Practically speaking we should be able to make some announcements over the next few months about where we we expect to see what events where - we do need to establish the governing committee, and they have to have some say in how that's done.
"The establishment of the committee is not yet complete, people are being brought in progressively, they'll need administration and support, but the principle reason to do all that is to give the Commonwealth Games committee some involvement and ownership over the choices and decisions that are made, but also to give some of the regional communities some engagement around what sports fit best into their local aspirations for the games."
It's understood Ballarat will be host to about 1750 athletes, coaches, and staff, for the athletics, boxing, and part of the Twenty20 cricket program, with more sports to be confirmed.
A location for the village has not yet been determined, nor specific upgrades to existing venues and infrastructure.
While it's understood the City of Ballarat is in discussions to acquire the former John Valves factory site next to Mars Stadium, potentially to create new Commonwealth Games infrastructure, no further detail has been revealed.
Mr Pallas also responded to claims from the state opposition that $87.1 million had been cut from regional development in Tuesday's budget.
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"I hope the opposition aren't falling for the trap of looking at COVID-related expenditure in the last two budgets, which has come off a little bit, but the base funding has increased," he said.
"COVID-specific expenditure should not be confused, I know they've made that mistake when comparing our health and road maintenance spending."
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