Game on for Sydney as Premier Gladys Berejiklian pledges to upgrade ANZ and Allianz stadiums

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian will upgrade both ANZ and Allianz stadiums and says she is prepared to commit more money than the $1.6 billion that is now set aside for the projects.

• ANZ Stadium’s upgrade price tag blows out to $1.1 billion
• Urgent fix needed for ‘death trap’ Allianz Stadium

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian will upgrade both ANZ and Allianz stadiums and says she is prepared to commit more money than the $1.6 billion that is now set aside for the projects.

On a visit to Tokyo yesterday, Ms Berejiklian said both stadiums could even be rebuilt at the same time, provided sporting codes could find a way to manage their games as work progressed.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo where she is on a trade mission. Picture: Getty Images

In her strongest comments yet on Sydney’s stadium wars, the Premier said Sydney Olympic Park’s ANZ Stadium remained the priority but she would consider starting work on Moore Park’s dilapidated Allianz Stadium before the March 2019 election.

She said she was determined to push ahead because the presence of world-class facilities “means jobs, it means tourism”.

“I want to bring things forward,” Ms Berejiklian said.

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“The only thing that would prevent me from doing that with Allianz is the content issue. If we can find an innovative way to deal with the content issue — and it does require further discussion with the codes — then that’s the big challenge for us.”

Estimates for the ANZ work range from $900 million to $1.6 billion and a rebuild of Allianz for $400 million to $800 million. The Daily Telegraph revealed last week it would take $137 million just to bring Allianz up to scratch on safety.

Allianz Stadium needs a major safety upgrade to the tune of $137 million. Picture: Getty Images

Canterbury's Brett Morris in action at ANZ Stadium which needs $900 million to $1.6 billion worth of work. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Ms Berejiklian said she wasn’t “wedded” to the $1.6 billion price for the work as it didn’t even account for construction of other stadiums.

“I’d love to see an outer Western Sydney stadium,” she said.

“I’d love to see indoor stadia ... the 1.6 is what we allocated at the time for this term but there’s nothing stopping me from improving on that if I can because we are in a strong financial position ... Having said that, I do have a keen eye on the dollar and want to make sure you get the best bang for your buck.

“I’ll do what’s best, I’m not wedded by what envelope we’ve created. “If we have the opportunity to look outside that envelope we will.”

MS Berejiklian said investing in stadiums could make Sydney “the global events capital of the region”.

“We’ve got the International Convention Centre. We’re starting to see soccer matches we’ve never seen before; I want Sydney to be the regional capital for major events and we have the potential to do that.”

Ms Berejiklian speaks with Tokyo-based Australian chef Matthew Crabbe. The premier is in Japan seeking potential infrastructure investors. Picture: Getty Images

Ms Berejiklian is on a five-day trade mission to Japan and South Korea to meet potential investors for Sydney’s infrastructure boom.

“We have an infrastructure investment boom the likes of which we’ve never seen ... I want to make sure it’s there for the next generation of projects,” she said.

“The pitch to people is NSW not only has impressive infrastructure now but we’re wanting you to invest in future projects.”