Government refuses to explain $200m hole in Moore Park golf course plan
The NSW government is refusing to explain how it plans to deliver Moore Park’s golf course transformation for $50m when consultants say it will cost $245m.
The Minns government refuses to detail how it expects to rip up Moore Park Golf Course, reconstruct the layout and deliver a new 20ha park on a $50 million budget.
Mystery surrounds the proposed Moore Park hatchet job after The Daily Telegraph’s revelation that an earlier business case for the project pitched a price tag of $245m.
Questions to the Labor government were largely stonewalled on Thursday.
The Daily Telegraph asked if the latest plan was fully costed, whether a new business case existed, and how the government hoped to slash $200m from the option put forward by consultants in February.
“The plan has been fully costed at $50m in the budget.” Planning Minister Paul Scully said.
“The government did not adopt the business case as it did not meet our requirements for a new 20ha park.”
Opposition planning spokesman Scott Farlow and Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope accused the government of lacking transparency.
“Now that there’s a $200m differential between their original business case and what they say they’re going to spend on chopping up Moore Park for a nine-hole golf course, it’s time to release the business case for what they’ve announced,” Mr Farlow said.
Mr Tudehope added: “They need to come clean.”
Completed nine months ago, the business case was delivered by an extensive group of specialists – 10 consultancy firms – only for the government to ignore the comprehensive findings and recommendations.
After walking away, the government is now promoting a draft “Establishment Plan” for Moore Park. It is currently on exhibition with feedback closing at midnight on Monday.
While devoid of costings, the eight-page document includes a map that details new recreation amenities, along with an expanded driving range, a new mini-golf offering, and a shortened course.
As The Telegraph reported, the list of proposed parkland assets – from a playground to fitness stations, multi-purpose sports courts, tracks and paths, picnic areas, and nature areas – mirrors the one from the February business case, minus a BMX circuit.
The Establishment Plan, like the business case, also allows for a 50 per cent expansion of the driving range and a mini-golf facility to offset revenue shortfalls once the championship course is hacked from 18 holes to nine.
The intrigue now centres on how the government hopes to create the new park and reduce the golf course at just 20 per cent of the cost consultants modelled in their February “preferred option”.
In the business case, assumed redevelopment costs were itemised.
The golf offering alone was estimated at $70.6m, made up of cutting back the golf course ($10.4m), extending the driving range ($23.1m), creating the mini-golf ($2.4m), and constructing or upgrading hospitality-related buildings ($34.7m).
The Establishment Plan includes does not call out new buildings specifically, but does mention an upgraded “golf house”.
Even if the $34.7m for building construction and upgrades is removed entirely – even though upgrades are mentioned in the Establishment Plan – it would still leave a hard cost of $35.9m, leaving less than $15m for parkland works.
In the discarded business case, the new park is projected to cost $175.2m, broken down as internal park connections ($63.2m), landscaping ($59.3m), park amenity ($24.4m), buildings ($13.2m), carparking ($4.2m) and whole-of-park scope ($11m).
Claiming the February report was cabinet-in-confidence, the government consistently refused to release its contents until the Upper House censured Environment Minister Penny Sharpe earlier this week and threatened her with suspension unless the Moore Park papers were produced.
It sparked the furore which had Mr Scully addressing the subject in Question Time on Thursday.
“The government committed $50 million in the last Budget to deliver a 20ha park at Moore Park,” he said.
“That 20ha park is going to be delivered within three years.”
The Telegraph can also reveal Botany golf course was a potential candidate for closure to make way for additional cemetery space in Sydney, according to a government meeting brief from April.
Lands and Property Minister Steve Kamper met with Metropolitan Memorial Parks to discuss solutions to the city’s limited supply of burial plots, including repurposing government-owned land to resolve the shortage.
The meeting brief detailed two golf courses as “potential examples” – Carnarvon and Botany.
A government spokesman told The Telegraph: “Carnarvon was selected as the preferred site … and meets all the best-practice criteria for a modern memorial park.”
He said Botany was ruled out for reasons including a high water table that prevents excavation, a jet fuel line under the course, and a high-pressure gas line running the full length of the site.
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Originally published as Government refuses to explain $200m hole in Moore Park golf course plan
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