Olympian effort by John Fahey to save Sydney Olympic Park Authority

Former NSW Liberal premier John Fahey was able to save the Sydney Olympic Park Authority from being dissolved by agreeing to a compromise deal.

Former NSW premier John Fahey. Picture: Damian Shaw

Former NSW premier and Liberal Party elder John Fahey was able to save the Sydney Olympic Park Authority from being dissolved last year by agreeing to a compromise deal that would cede key divisions of the organisation to the NSW government.

Mr Fahey, SOPA chairman, told The Australian discussions were held to amalgamate the agency, a legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, with the NSW Planning Department as part of an effort to identify efficiencies.

He said the authority was saved after the board agreed to jettison its finance, legal and human resources sectors to the NSW government.

The Australian revealed on Tuesday that Mr Fahey, who chaired Sydney’s successful bid to host the 2000 Olympics, had been quietly lobbying the government to reverse course on continuing discussions to fully dissolve the SOPA.

“There were some discussions last year about bringing things together,” Mr Fahey said.

“SOPA, with its specific legacy, we agreed for some of the corporate back-office services to be amalgamated with the Planning Department. That made a bit of sense.”

The authority currently oversees Olympic Park, a major events precinct in Sydney’s west that encompasses 430ha of parkland, seven sporting venues and more than 200 businesses.

It was one of several agencies, including Property NSW, the Land and Housing Corporation and others, that agreed to cede some corporate functions to the newly formed Department of Planning, Industry and Environment last year.

Discussions are continuing within the NSW government about what to do with the SOPA and another unrelated agency, Landcom, amid concerns about perceived management deficiencies in the organisations.

Landcom, which develops housing for the government, has been mired in turmoil over bullying allegations involving its chair, Suzanne Jones, who was reinstated following a Treasury department recommendation that she be moved on from the position.

SOPA was similarly marked for amalgamation as a consequence of the board’s handling of the 2018 Opal Tower crisis, dissatisfaction with its chief executive, and criticism that neither he nor the board handled the controversy adequately.

Mr Fahey vehemently denied this by saying that SOPA had nothing to do with building approvals or construction of the Opal Tower.

“SOPA had only two connections to Opal - it sold the vacant land initially to the developer and retained title to 11 units on behalf of the government under the affordable housing program,” Mr Fahey said.