By Charlotte Webster-
Australian Grand Prix organisers have failed to overturn a $2.84 million compensation order arising from the cancellation of a Robbie Williams concert during the COVID-19 crisis.
A three-judge panel of the Victorian Court of Appeal has unanimously rejected the Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s attempt to challenge a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that found the organisers had breached their contract with live music promoter World Touring Melbourne.
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The dispute centres on the dramatic cancellation of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park, which was called off on March 13, just hours before the event was due to begin as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly escalated. Williams was scheduled to perform at Lakeside Stadium the following day Saturday, 14 March 2020
as part of the Grand Prix program. The concert was cancelled along with the wider event, leaving the promoter facing significant financial losses. World Touring Melbourne subsequently took legal action, arguing that the Grand Prix organisers had provided misleading information about advice from Victoria’s then chief health officer, Brett Sutton.
In 2024, Supreme Court Justice Clyde Croft found that the organisers had misrepresented Dr Sutton’s position when communicating the cancellation to the promoter. An email sent to World Touring Melbourne at 4:25pm on March 13 stated that Dr Sutton had advised that the Grand Prix either needed to be cancelled or held without spectators.
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But evidence before the court showed that Dr Sutton had earlier texted Grand Prix officials expressing support for cancelling the Williams concert while making clear that the ultimate decision rested with the organisers.
Justice Croft ruled that the misleading representation amounted to a breach of contract and ordered the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to pay World Touring Melbourne $2.84 million in damages for lost earnings. The Grand Prix Corporation appealed the decision, but the Court of Appeal has now unanimously rejected that challenge, leaving the compensation order in place.
The case highlights the extraordinary commercial and legal fallout from the sudden shutdown of major Australian events at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.The 2020 Australian Grand Prix was cancelled while spectators were already queuing at the gates, in one of the most abrupt interruptions in the event’s history.
The Williams concert was among the events affected, although not every major event in Melbourne that weekend was cancelled. National Rugby League fixtures and a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl went ahead.
The Court of Appeal’s decision brings the long-running dispute over the cancelled Williams performance closer to an end, with the Grand Prix organisers now facing the $2.84 million damages bill confirmed by the courts.
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