Minns' $50m Moore Park promise blasted as new report details real cost
Premier Chris Minns faces mounting pressure as bombshell documents reveal his $50 million Moore Park promise could cost taxpayers four times more than claimed.
Another bombshell report has surfaced that indicates a Moore Park golf course revamp cannot be delivered for the bargain bin price promised by the NSW Government.
Premier Chris Minns has vowed to shrink the golf course, create 20 hectares of public parkland, build new sports facilities and expand the driving range all within three years for $50 million.
But those claims, which the government refuses to back up with itemised costings, defy the estimates of industry experts who have pitched the project at more than $200m in two separate business cases commissioned by the state.
The Daily Telegraph revealed last week how consultancy firms crafted a preferred option as part of a full business case nine months ago.
The report, which the government initially attempted to hide citing cabinet-in-confidence, called for a budget of $245.8m.
This masthead can now reveal an earlier report – a strategic business case – warned against under-investment, hinting that a new park could be a white elephant if it lacked the necessary access or appeal to attract nearby residents.
Dated March 2024, it reads in part: “The difficulty of access to the site is widely recognised and acknowledged. The site’s location as a New Park therefore necessitates improvements in access and connectivity to enable optimum levels of usage and utilisation.”
The report says investments in infrastructure were “assumed to be required” including a new pedestrian bridge across South Dowling Street. The strategic business case did not include the bridge in its modelling but suggested a $50m cost.
The strategic business case also spit-balled three options for the redevelopment works, ranging from $88m ($76m dedicated to parkland and $12m specific to golf) up to $203m.
But the most minimalistic version excluded a raft of improvements the government says it is committed to delivering.
They include an expanded driving range and a mini-golf offering. The full business case valued them at a collective cost of $25.5m, alongside $10.4m required to reconfigure the course, and $175m for the “new park”.
The driving range and mini-golf – part of the government’s $50m Establishment Plan which was on exhibition until Monday – are considered crucial money-makers with revenues set to take a significant hit if the course is shredded from 18 holes to nine.
Jared Kendler is a spokesperson for the Moore Park Golf Collective, which is fighting to keep the course at championship length.
He is also a former Executive Director at NSW Treasury where he oversaw “business cases and value-for-money assessments”.
“Over the past two years, the Moore Park Golf Collective … has not opposed change ... we’ve championed it,” he said.
“We’ve put forward multiple proactive solutions. We’ve shown in detail that it is possible to deliver new parkland, new recreation, better access, a stronger precinct, while also retaining an 18-hole public golf course.
“We’ve taken a YIMBY approach. Yes to more open space … better public amenity … a more activated Moore Park.
“What I cannot support is a plan that doesn’t work. Not economically, not socially, not physically and not safely.
“The government’s own full business case … confirms exactly that … (it) leaves no doubt that the best option is to maintain 18 holes of public golf at Moore Park.
“Every single redevelopment option is worse for the people of NSW than doing nothing.”
Mr Kendler said it was “extraordinary” that the Establishment Plan was not modelled in the business cases, adding: “The Government is asking the people of NSW to support a plan that has never been economically evaluated, never been risk-tested.”
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