Liberals’ Riverbank Arena dumped in first decision by Premier Peter Malinauskas’ cabinet

Branded a “basketball stadium” by Labor, the $662m Riverbank Arena has officially been dumped in the first cabinet decision of Premier Peter Malinauskas’ government. Was it the right decision?

The proposed $662m Riverbank Arena has been axed in the first cabinet decision of the new Labor government, which issued a decree for an immediate stop-work on the central pillar of their rival’s failed re-election bid.

Premier Peter Malinauskas labelled the arena’s axing a “significant decision”, which he said would free up money to spend on “fixing the state’s ramping crisis”.

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Labor has vowed to pump money into the health system by bringing forward money once slated for the arena, which Mr Malinauskas swiftly labelled a “basketball stadium” after the-then premier Steven Marshall unveiled the plan in March last year.

“The basketball stadium was a nice idea and it would have been nice to have, but getting an ambulance on time when you call triple-0 is something we all need to have,” he said.

“This is all about priorities and I made it clear in the lead-up to the election that my priority was to invest more money in our health system.”

An artist impression of the now-dumped Riverbank Area, which Labor campaigned against.

The cabinet stop-work order will terminate planning for the arena across all government departments and agencies, including the Adelaide Venue Management Corporation (AVMC) – the lead agency that conceived the proposal.

The $78.9m in budgeted funds set aside by the Liberals for the arena until 2024-25 has been rediverted into planning works for the delivery of Labor’s health agenda, such as scheduling, engineering and architectural drawings.

The remainder of the $662m will be brought forward at the state budget, a date for which Mr Malinauskas said would be announced within a fortnight.

The arena would have replaced the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and extended the Adelaide Convention Centre, both of which are operated by AVMC.

Labor’s plans for the capital funding allocated to the arena include 300 extra public hospital beds, 10 major hospital upgrades and five new ambulance stations.

Mr Marshall last year revealed plans for a 15,000-seat, multipurpose indoor arena for sport, entertainment and conventions, built between Adelaide’s railyards and the River Torrens – with major construction not starting until 2025.

An artist impression of the interior of the Riverbank Area, which the new Labor government has now officially dropped.

A centrepiece of the Liberals’ failed bid for a second term at the March 19 state election, the arena was designed to increase capacity for major conventions, stage larger concerts and host court sports including basketball, netball and tennis.

But Labor last June vowed to scuttle the arena and divert at least $100m into country health.

A business case released last August predicted the $662.3m Riverbank Arena would attract 825,000 visitors annually, create more than 4500 jobs during construction and add more than $1bn to the state economy.

The 15,000-seat, multipurpose arena was forecast to be operational from 2028, generate more than 640 jobs and inject $69m to the state economy.