How NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has bungled the stadiums plan

The optics of the NSW government’s decision to jettison every other promised suburban ground upgrade but save the one sitting in the knife’s-edge electorate of a dumped minister are worthy of their own Yes Minister plot, writes Anna Caldwell.

In the playbook of worst press conferences of all time, there was one clanger from Gladys Berejiklian which still elicits cringes in the halls of Macquarie Street.

The time was March 2019. The NSW coalition was fighting for survival in a state election where Labor had gone to war with them over their big spending promise to knock down Allianz stadium and upgrade ANZ.

It was Labor’s only policy – schools and hospitals, not stadiums – and Berejiklian was feeling the heat. So much so, she went to water.

Asked 10 times about her policy at a 28 minute press conference, she refused to use the S-word. She wouldn’t use the word “stadium” despite her centrepiece policy being about, that’s right, stadiums.

Staffers were mortified. Cabinet colleagues furious.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian questioned by media over stadium reneg. Picture: NCA NewsWire

But here’s the irony. In the aftermath of the horror press conference it was none other than Dominic Perrottet and Stuart Ayres who muscled up to campaign HQ, telling them they needed to grow a spine and Berejiklian needed to own the stadium story – sing it from the rooftops even.

The next day, Berejiklian was back before the cameras promising that NSW could “have it all” – stadiums and hospitals and schools, obliterating Labor’s anti-stadium election platform before going on to win the election (amid, of course, a few other unforced errors from Labor).

Now here we are almost four years later and Perrottet himself has caught the mystery Macquarie Street disease of freaking out over investing in sporting grounds.

Well – with the exception of $300 million to upgrade Penrith Stadium in Ayres’s electorate while unequivocally welching on deal to upgrade Bookvale Oval ($100m), Leichhardt Oval ($50m) and Shark Park ($100m). He’s citing budgetary pressures, specifically the floods.

One might well wonder whether the solitary $300 million upgraded Penrith Stadium will be named the Stuart Ayres memorial stadium.

The absurd optics of the NSW government’s decision to jettison every other promised suburban ground upgrade but save the one sitting in the knife’s-edge electorate of a dumped minister are worthy of their own Yes Minister plot.

Indeed it’s another year, another stadium debacle overseen by another NSW politician who should know better.

Backflipping and triple piking on stadium spending in NSW should by now have its own elite sports category, with record breaking performances in the history books by Mike Baird, Berejiklian and now Perrottet joins the squad.

The suburban spend he’s walked away from was an agreement with a long legacy – its genesis is in the last iteration of the stadium wars when Berejiklian walked away from a bigger spend on upgrading ANZ.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet pulls the chair on stadium development: NCA Newswire

Points to Perrottet for creativity though – in the many chapters of promising stadium spend then freaking out and changing their minds, no other politician has tried to emotionally manipulate the public by pitting flood victims against footy goers.

“The NSW Government remains committed to upgrading suburban stadiums; however, following recent natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is appropriate that further investment into stadia is staged,” he said in a statement.

“The government has just received the Floods Inquiry Report, which will likely require a significant cost to the taxpayer, and I know right now there are still 1,366 people without a home in NSW due to flooding.

“It should come as no surprise that my top priority is therefore supporting those devastated by the floods.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has manipulated the stadia argument by insisting flood victims should take priority. Meanwhile former deputy leader Stuart Ayres' seat of Penrith still gets it's stadium upgrade. Artwork: Terry Pontikos

This is a false narrative that belies the broader picture – Perrottet has been under pressure over stadium investment from within his own government for some time. This includes from Treasurer Matt Kean who holds the purse strings – and the might of the moderate faction – who thought too much was being spent on stadiums.

The suggestion that helping flood victims has to mean the death knell for suburban footy ground upgrades is also lacking in logic.

There’s another column entirely which could be dedicated to all the money wasting in government offices and departments.

Not to mention the $905,000 spent on fit-out costs for the New York trade office they hoped to send John Barilaro to.

But by far the biggest problem with Perrottet’s backflip is how on earth does he convince the public that it’s absolutely positively critical to abandon the spend on three suburban grounds but still drop $300 million in Stuart Ayres’s seat?

The decision was made with Ayres on the nose and Penrith teetering as probably the most at-risk seat for the coalition.

Labor is already rubbing its hands together over pitching this as an almighty pork barrel come next year’s election. Perrottet, who has dudded the other clubs and footy fans all over the state, has handed this opportunity to his opponents on a platter.

Peter V’landys is right to be disappointed. The suburban stadium strategy was one meant to make not just footy grounds better, but the lives of families in the suburbs who could call a great home ground their own.

The boutique stadiums are designed to be used for all types of content that would support livelihoods and culture in our neighbourhoods.

The NRL is well within its rights to retaliate on NSW now after a string of broken promises.

Former Queensland Premier and NRL board member Peter Beattie will gladly snaffle a future grand final for Queensland.

Whoever is Premier this time next year will being using a different s-word as they figure out how to explain letting one of the state’s biggest events slip through their fingers.