It's now been four years since I was appointed the role of Sentinel inside the Invictus Games Foundation, and that changes how you see moments like this. The Invictus Australia Sports Festival is not simply a new event—it’s a structural evolution in how recovery is delivered, sustained, and scaled. Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, announced this at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra following the Last Post ceremony.
This moment carried the clarity and restraint that have come to define Invictus at its best. It was deliberate. It was measured. And it was forward-looking.
The Festival
Presented by ATCO, the Invictus Australia Sports Festival will bring together competitors from Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea, with a focus on regional collaboration and recovery through sport.
An integrated observer programme will invite additional nations to study the model and develop their own initiatives, positioning Perth not simply as a host city, but as a working blueprint for expansion.
“By creating more regular, regional opportunities for competition, we can reach and support even more members of our community.” — Rob Owen OBE, CEO, Invictus Games Foundation
What is being introduced is not incremental. It is architectural—a shift from singular moments to continuous systems.
The Framework
The Invictus Germany programe provided the blueprint for this festival, allowing the Australian model to build on proven infrastructure rather than starting from first principles.
This is how durable systems evolve: through refinement, not reinvention.
Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea establish a strong regional foundation. The observer programme extends that outward, creating a pathway for replication across additional nations.
This is scale, executed with discipline.
The Evidence
The expansion is grounded in measurable outcomes.
Research from Invictus Australia demonstrates that sport has a positive impact on 34 of the 122 findings from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide—underscoring the role of sport as a functional component of recovery.
In this context, sport is not symbolic. It is infrastructure.
The Next Phase
Further details, including confirmed sports and programme structure, will be announced in due course.
The next Invictus Games will take place in Birmingham, UK, in 2027, with the 2029 host city to be revealed in July 2026.
The Perth festival stands independently of future host city considerations. It is a dedicated expansion of the Invictus model—designed to strengthen continuity, accessibility, and long-term impact. From where I sit, this is what thoughtful expansion looks like.
Not louder. Not broader for its own sake. More precise. More consistent. Built to hold.
This is what the next phase looks like.
