Luke Foley rules out knocking down either Sydney stadium
NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has ruled out knocking down either ANZ or Allianz Stadium.
NSW
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NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has ruled out knocking down either ANZ or Allianz Stadium, on the same day the Berejiklian government has agreed to release documents relating to its $2 billion plan to rebuild both stadiums.
This afternoon Mr Foley finally clarified his stance on the stadiums, saying he will only do “modest refurbishments”.
Earlier today the government agreed to release within three weeks a stack of documents relating to its spend of more than $2 billion on stadiums.
Gladys Berejiklian’s government voted in favour of a motion put forward by the opposition in state parliament today requiring them to publish all stadium documents within 21 days.
By voting in favour of the motion, the government avoided an embarrassing case of a Liberal MP crossing the floor.
Liberal MLC Matthew Mason-Cox was set to cross the floor to vote in favour of the document release if his government did not support it.
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Labor MP Lynda Voltz’s motion calls on the government to table any document prepared in relation to the demolition, reconfiguration or rebuild of ANZ or Allianz stadiums, as well as any legal advice or correspondence with sporting codes.
The upper house also today established two powerful new “super” committees to scrutinise government projects.
Mr Mason-Cox abstained from voting on this.
The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party led the charge to establish the committees which will have the stadiums spend among their first orders of business.
“Despite the Coalition government opposing our efforts, both super-committees were established by a vote of 21 in favour to 18 against,” Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Robert Brown said.
“This proves that the Legislative Council will not be a rubber stamp for the will of the government of the day.”
“The government doesn’t control us, and we were elected by the entire state of NSW to act as a house of review on their undertakings.”
FOLEY’S STANCE
Labor leader Luke Foley this afternoon unequivocally ruled out knocking down and redeveloping either ANZ or Allianz stadium, saying he would only do “modest refurbishments”.
“No we won’t be knocking down and rebuilding either Moore Park or Olympic Park stadium. There are much greater priorities for NSW,” he said.
While at last clarifying his stance on redeveloping the stadiums, Mr Foley still would not put a dollar figure on how much he would spend on the stadiums.
“We will release costed and detailed policy before the election, it’s over a year away, but for sure I give my commitment today that Labor will have a detailed and costed policy with respect to stadiums and with respect to all other big important policy matter before the people of this state well before they go to the polls in 53 weeks time,” he said.
“We will not knockdown and rebuild either of those two stadiums because it’s an extravagance.”
“We’re willing to look at modest refurbishments but we won’t be knocking down and rebuilding either the Moore Park or Olympic Park stadium because our priority is for investment into schools and hospitals before stadiums.”
Mr Foley said he had not met with the NRL this year to discuss what impact his unwillingness to redevelop the stadiums would have on the economy and the code.
“What I won’t be doing is engaging in a $2.5 billions stadiums splurge. I’ve been very honest with them about that.”