Election warning over stadium ’broken promise’, decision on moving NRL grand final imminent
The NRL grand final could be moved to Brisbane by the end of the week, with warnings fired over the NSW state election if suburban stadiums aren’t upgraded.
NSW
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Rugby league boss Peter V’landys has called out local MPs for not doing enough to protect the stadium upgrades pledged for their electorates, warning a decision on whether to move the NRL grand final from Sydney will be made later this week.
It comes amid warnings from local politicians that pulling the funding could harm the embattled NSW Government at next year’s election.
Premier Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday vowed there wouldn’t be a change in course over the decision to delay funding for three stadium upgrades at Brookvale, Shark Park and Leichhardt, saying: “Ultimately, I’m not accountable to Peter V’landys, I’m accountable to the people of New South Wales – they are my priority”.
Mr V’landys, the Australian Rugby League Commission chair, launched into Mr Perrottet and local MPs over the move to pull $250m in suburban stadium funding, which the Premier said wasn’t a “priority” amid the floods which have struck NSW.
“Where are these local members about these community assets?” Mr V’landys said.
“It’s an investment …. where are they (local MPs) all? They’ve got an election coming up in March, there’s not a word from any of them on that.”
Mr V’landys signalled the Australian Rugby League commission would meet in the coming days which could result in the NRL grand final being relocated to Queensland, where Suncorp Stadium is on standby to hold the event.
He told The Telegraph the ARLC was considering “all options”, including potentially keeping the grand final in Sydney “to ensure we honour our part of the agreement”, despite his accusations the Premier had reneged on a deal to revamp the footy ovals.
“When you shake hands with someone, you look them in the eye and make an agreement, and you expect it will be honoured,” he said.
“To use a human tragedy to spin your way out of honouring an agreement which in the scheme of things is a very small amount of dollars … this is not material.”
He added the decision had to be made in coming days as ticket sales for the grand final were due to open.
“We have to start selling tickets. They’ve left us hanging to the last minute,” he said.
It came as the Liberal Mayor of Sutherland Council, Cr Carmelo Pesce, warned pulling the funding for Shark Park could do damage at next year’s state election.
“We’ve got safe seats here, but it’s not looking good if we keep missing out,” he said.
“We’re like the poor cousin … We should have it upgraded – you make a commitment, and the commitment should stand.”
Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said he was “massively disappointed and gutted” Brookvale’s revamp had been ditched and said it was unfair Penrith’s $300m stadium project would go ahead.
“What would harm their election chances is if they go ahead with Penrith – they’re either all out, or all in,” he said.
Cronulla MP Mark Speakman, whose suburban ground of Shark Park is set to miss out on a $100m upgrade, backed the Premier – saying “at the moment the Government has to prioritise supporting families and communities recovering from devastating floods on the back of Covid, drought and fires”.
Mr Perrottet on Wednesday morning said it would be “incredibly disappointing if we lost the grand final” but didn’t signal a backdown, again citing the financial pressure of dealing with homelessness resulting from floods earlier this year.
“The reality is I have to make decisions in the best interest of NSW … I have over 1000 people without a home based on the flooding we have seen across NSW. The cost to taxpayers … is going to be significant and my job as Premier is when circumstances change, priorities change as well.”
The Premier found an unlikely ally in Opposition leader Chris Minns, the man set to take over the books if Labor wins next year’s election.
Mr Minns said he supported the Premier’s stance after touring emergency departments in NSW in recent weeks, saying “they are under serious pressure”.
“I just don’t think there’s the funds to complete a major new redevelopment of suburban NRL grounds at the moment,” he said.
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