Australian Grand Prix Loses Appeal Over $2.84M Concert Payout
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has been ordered to pay up — again.
A bid to overturn a $2.84 million damages bill over the cancelled Robbie Williams concert at the COVID-hit 2020 Melbourne Grand Prix has failed, with Victoria’s Court of Appeal backing the original ruling in emphatic fashion.
Three justices today unanimously rejected the corporation’s attempt to challenge a 2024 Supreme Court decision that found it had misled concert promoter World Touring Melbourne in the chaotic hours before the Formula One weekend collapsed.
A race weekend unravels
On 13 March 2020, Melbourne’s Albert Park was supposed to wake to the sound of turnstiles and turbo-hybrid engines. Instead, the Australian Grand Prix was scrapped just hours before gates were due to open, as the looming threat of COVID-19 finally forced organisers’ hand.
Williams, whose hits include Let Me Entertain You and Angels, had been booked to play at Lakeside Stadium the following day as part of the Grand Prix entertainment program. That show never happened either.
The cancellation triggered a long-running legal fight that has now landed decisively in favour of the promoter.
Misleading health advice at the heart of the case
World Touring Melbourne sued the Australian Grand Prix Corporation in 2024, arguing the concert was axed after organisers falsely claimed Victoria’s then Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, had directed that it could not proceed.
Justice Clyde Croft agreed.
In his 2024 ruling, he found the corporation had deceived the promoter when it emailed at 4:25pm on March 13, stating Dr Sutton had advised the Grand Prix either be cancelled or run without spectators — a message used to justify calling off the Williams show.
The reality was more nuanced, and crucially, less definitive.
Earlier that day, Dr Sutton had texted Grand Prix officials saying he supported the decision to cancel the Williams concert, but stressed the final call rested with organisers. There was no formal directive ordering the event to be scrapped in the way the corporation suggested.
That gap between what the health chief actually said and what the promoter was told proved decisive.
Justice Croft ordered the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to pay $2.84 million in damages for loss of earnings to World Touring Melbourne.
Appeal shut down
Hoping to avoid the payout, the corporation took the case to the Court of Appeal. It came away empty-handed.
The three-judge panel backed Justice Croft’s findings and refused leave to appeal, leaving the damages order intact and the promoter’s victory untouched.
The decision also sharpens the contrast with what unfolded elsewhere in Melbourne that same weekend. While the Grand Prix and Williams concert were shelved, other major events went ahead — including National Rugby League fixtures and a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
For the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, the legal battle is now effectively over. The financial hit is clear. The reputational cost, in an era where trust around health advice remains under the microscope, may linger far longer.
