Arnold Sports Festival Australia ready to bring Schwarzenegger to Sydney

The 73-year-old movie star and former governor of California is set to bring his annual body-building festival to Sydney post-COVID.

Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger could be coming to Sydney as soon as the pandemic lifts — with the support of the NSW government.

Organisers of his annual body-building festival in Melbourne have postponed this year’s event, which attracts 70,000 visitors and pumps $25m into the economy, because of the coronavirus.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sydney. Picture: Andrew Murray

“It is probably time for a bit of a change,” Arnold Sports Festival Australia promoter Tony Doherty said.

“We don’t get any support from the Victorian government.”

He has his eye on the International Convention Centre at Darling Harbour and a possible date in November, coronavirus allowing.

“Arnold has always been a great fan of Sydney,” Mr Doherty said.

The 73-year-old movie star and former governor of California first came to Sydney as a young bodybuilder in the 1970s.

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Picture: Tolga Akmen / AFP

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sydney Harbour in 2017. Picture: Adam Taylor

“I love coming here. I mean, look at the Sydney Opera House. It’s magnificent,” he said in 2017.

The Expendables star and his enormous sporting event, which features everything from bodybuilding to chess, would be very welcome in Sydney.

Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said: “NSW is open for business and if event owners aren’t getting what they need in other states they should talk to our team at Destination NSW.”

Sticky wicket for Labor MP

The SCG Members’ box on Friday.

Labor MP Jo Haylen. Picture: AAP/Dean Lewins

Speculation was rife on Macquarie Street this week that Labor MP and cricket-tragic Jo Haylen may have spent Friday in the SCG Members’ box for the second day of the Pink Test.

While an MP at a cricket match would not normally raise eyebrows, Labor Leader Jodi McKay had repeatedly called for crowds to be banned from the Test to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Sydney Confidential spies provided a photo purporting to show the Summer Hill MP at the ground on Friday; Labor MPs shown the snap believed Haylen was the masked spectator pictured left.

Despite Ms McKay’s call for a crowd ban it’s understood her MPs were not told to steer clear.

Haylen is the co-chair of the “Parliamentary Friends of Cricket” group.

Despite not breaking any rules by attending the match, it seems Haylen may have realised that her presence contradicted calls by her leader; the MP did not return calls, texts, or emails.

Jus’ Criminal

Steven Khuu.

5T gang’s ‘Thackhy’ off the streets

One of the last figures of the notorious Asian street gang known as 5T has died after turning his life around.

Steven “Thackhy” Khuu was a major figure in the group’s rise to power within the Asian underworld and on the streets of Sydney.

The 5T terrorised parts of Western Sydney in the ’90s and was made up of young Vietnamese men who were children of refugees from the Vietnam War.

After 5T leader Tri Minh Tran was murdered in 1995 Khuu left the streets of Cabramatta.

Barrister’s skills expose uni farce

Sydney barrister Chris Nowlan wanted a change of career when he enrolled at Queensland University to study medicine but ended up needing his legal skills after they refused to let him graduate as a doctor.

Chris Nowlan.

“I felt I was being treated unfairly,” he said about his studies at the uni.

“I made a Freedom of Information application and obtained emails proving the same.”

The emails — containing an allegation of dishonesty against Nolan which an investigation proved to be false — included a warning to be careful what was put in them in case they were subject to an FOI.

The FOI was launched after the uni’s Senate Appeals Committee cancelled four of Nolan’s successful course passes after he initially failed them.

Originally published as Arnold Sports Festival Australia ready to bring Schwarzenegger to Sydney