Robbie Williams with Daniel Ricciardo at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images
Victoria’s Court of Appeal refused the AGPC’s application on Monday, leaving in place the damages awarded to promoter World Touring Melbourne in 2024 over the abandoned show.
Justices Kevin Lyons, Rowena Orr and Jack Forrest unanimously rejected the attempt to challenge the earlier Supreme Court ruling on both liability and damages.
The decision brings another chapter in the long-running dispute closer to an end, six years after Williams was due to headline entertainment surrounding the 2020 Australian grand prix.
That Formula 1 weekend was abandoned on March 13 as the emerging COVID-19 pandemic escalated, with McLaren withdrawing after a team member tested positive and spectators ultimately prevented from entering Albert Park.
Williams had been scheduled to perform at Lakeside Stadium the following evening.
World Touring Melbourne later pursued the AGPC over the cancellation and argued it had been given an inaccurate account of the government health advice surrounding the concert.
In 2024, Supreme Court Justice Clyde Croft found the decision to cancel the Williams performance rested with the AGPC rather than being imposed by Victoria’s then chief health officer Brett Sutton.
The case centred on communications between Sutton and then AGPC chief executive Andrew Westacott on the day the grand prix was called off.
The corporation told the promoter that Sutton had advised the F1 event should either be cancelled or held without spectators, while evidence before the court showed the health official had supported cancelling the Williams concert but left the final call with organisers.
“The court found that this representation by AGPC was likely to mislead or deceive and that WTM relied on the representation,” Justice Croft said in the original ruling.
World Touring Melbourne was subsequently awarded $2.84 million for lost earnings.
The AGPC returned to court this year seeking permission to challenge that outcome, arguing in part that the concert would not have proceeded regardless of how Westacott understood the health advice.
That submission failed to persuade the three-member appeal panel.
The timing of public health restrictions was also significant in the original case, with limits on large gatherings not taking effect until March 16, two days after Williams had been due on stage.
Other major events still went ahead across the same weekend, including NRL matches and a concert at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl attended by about 8000 people.
A stay had been placed on payment of the damages while the appeal process played out, meaning the AGPC now faces the $2.84 million bill after failing to have the original decision reopened.
The corporation had also previously rejected a $4.8 million settlement proposal from World Touring Melbourne before the matter proceeded through the courts.
A separate decision is still to be made over who will carry the legal costs associated with the failed appeal.