Allianz stadium report shows case for rebuild 'a sham', Michael Daley says

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/21/allianz-stadium-report-shows-case-for-rebuild-a-sham-michael-daley-says

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The NSW opposition leader, Michael Daley, says a report showing Allianz Stadium could have been upgraded to meet safety standards for a mere $18m - a fraction of the $730m price tag for knocking it down and rebuilding it – shows the government’s case for the knockdown and rebuild “is nothing more than a sham”.

The report prepared for the SCG Trust in 2016 suggested the Moore Park venue could be fixed to address “current non-compliance” for $18,153,800, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday.

The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has denied the stadium could be adequately upgraded for a fraction of the cost of building a new one.

“It’s plain wrong,” she told reporters in western Sydney on Thursday.

“It doesn’t even touch the sides of the health and safety changes needed.”

Allianz stadium: court to decide on future before NSW election

At a press conference later on Thursday, Daley said the government was trying to obfuscate.

“I know the premier today is trying to say, well, they’re wrong as well. It’s their report. It was commissioned by the government. This is not anyone else’s report.”

“Let’s not forget the promise in relation to stadiums, exactly four years ago, was that they would spend $600m on stadia … and that $600m made its way way up to $2.9bn. It’s back now to $2.2bn.

“Today, another exposé of a report commissioned by the government – by the government – not by anyone but by the government – which did not see the light of day until a parliamentary committee called for it. It says, quite simply, that they could have refurbished that stadium for somewhere between $18m and $130m.”

The treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, insisted the $18m figure was a “complete fraud” and rejected claims it was a secret document, arguing it was discussed at an upper house inquiry in 2018.

“We have been very upfront about our investment,” he said, alongside the premier.

“For $729m, it was in the state’s best interest to rebuild that stadium.”

Major demolition works have already begun on the stadium, which – under the Coalition government – will be bulldozed and replaced with a new one.

Daley has been pushing to stop the works until at least after the election, on the basis that if he is elected he will refurbish the stadium at a lower cost. But he has been unable to say how much cheaper his plan would be.

“It’ll be a simply mathematical exercise, depending on how much damage is done to the stadium,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.

“I won’t know that until I’m allowed in, and until the facts and figures are made available – and they’re not.”

With polling showing the two-party-preferred vote stuck on 50-50, Labor has made headway in the state election race by campaigning on the stadium issue.

In early March, Daley reignited the issue by telling the broadcaster Alan Jones that he would be sacked along with the rest of the board of the Sydney Sports and Cricket Ground Trust if Labor won government.