Australian Grand Prix Loses Appeal Over $2.84m Concert Payout
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has lost its final bid to avoid paying $2.84 million in compensation over the cancelled Robbie Williams concert that was meant to light up Melbourne on the eve of the COVID shutdown.
A three-judge Court of Appeal panel has unanimously backed a 2024 Victorian Supreme Court ruling, leaving the Grand Prix organisers on the hook to live music promoter World Touring Melbourne for breach of contract.
Concert Canned as Grand Prix Collapsed
The Williams show was scheduled for Lakeside Stadium as part of the 2020 Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. The race was scrapped on March 13, just hours before gates were due to open, as the threat of COVID-19 closed in on global sport.
Williams, whose catalogue includes Let Me Entertain You and Angels, was set to perform the following day. His concert never got close. It was cancelled in the chaos that followed the race being axed.
While other events in Melbourne — including National Rugby League fixtures and a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl — went ahead that same weekend, the Williams show did not. That contrast later became part of the backdrop to a bitter legal fight.
Misleading Health Advice at the Heart of the Case
World Touring Melbourne sued in 2024, arguing the concert collapsed not simply because of the pandemic, but because the Grand Prix Corporation had misrepresented the public health advice it claimed to be acting on.
Justice Clyde Croft found that event organisers had deceived the promoter by saying Victoria’s then chief health officer, Brett Sutton, had directed that the concert could not proceed. No such direction existed.
At 4:25pm on March 13, organisers emailed World Touring Melbourne, stating that Dr Sutton had advised the Grand Prix either be cancelled or run without patrons. That message underpinned the decision to pull the pin on Williams’ show.
The reality looked very different. Earlier that day, Dr Sutton had texted Grand Prix officials to say he supported the decision to cancel the concert, but stressed the call ultimately rested with organisers, not with him.
Justice Croft ruled that this gap between what the health chief actually said and what the corporation told the promoter amounted to misleading conduct, and ordered $2.84 million in damages for loss of earnings.
Appeal Shut Down
The Grand Prix Corporation tried to overturn that decision. Today, three Court of Appeal justices refused, unanimously rejecting its attempt to challenge the findings.
The verdict leaves the 2024 ruling intact, locks in the multimillion-dollar payout, and draws a firm legal line under one of the most chaotic weekends in Australian sport — a reminder that, long after the gates stay shut and the crowds go home, the fallout can still be measured in the cold numbers of a courtroom.
