Crash or crash through: Premier’s turf war

As bulldozers began ripping up turf at one of Sydney’s most famous­ sporting arenas yesterday, the usually risk-adverse Gladys Berejiklian became a crash-or-crash-through premier.

The demolition derby being played out at Allianz Stadium is now holding centre-stage in what was already an unpredictable NSW election campaign.

The Coalition leader’s hopes of running a small-target strategy are equally in danger of being torn apart.

It’s Gladys the Builder versus Michael Daley, the self-styled people’s champion, fighting the stadium rebuild and spectacularly vowing to sack the powerful Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust.

Ms Berejiklian, who avoided mentioning the “S” word through a 28-minute press conference yesterday, saying only that it was business as usual when asked when demolition would begin, will be unable to duck the issue any time soon.

The Australian has learned that “hard’’ demolition is scheduled to begin tomorrow — unless a court injunction stopping it is extended today — setting the scene for the stadium to be partly pulled down before electors’ eyes ahead of the March 23 election.

Demolition work continues on walkways at Allianz Stadium. Picture: Liam Driver

The Opposition Leader used Allianz and the rumble of bull­dozers yesterday as a backdrop for his media conference as he attempt­ed to link the demolition with other problems in the governme­nt’s massive infra­struc­ture program.

“No one knows what’s happening­ inside there, just like the light rail — I can’t answer the question because no one is allowe­d in,” Mr Daley said as he called for a halt to all demolition works until the election.

“Only a government dripping with arrogance would proceed to knock down this stadium against the wishes of the people with 16 days to go.’’ The Labor leader would be hoping the sound of those bulldozers was reverberating in the bush, where there has been anger at the city-focused investment, despite the Premier’s best efforts to turn voters’ focus to extensiv­e spending on hospitals and schools.

There is a way back for Ms Bere­jiklian but she has to go on the front foot and “own” the issue she is trying to avoid. You cannot introduce an elephant to a room — her $2 billion stadiums policy, including the Allianz demolition — and pretend the eleph­ant is not there.

Her avoidance of the stadiums issue gives the impression she is simply hoping it goes away until polling day. Meanwhile, the Premier continues to visit schools and hospitals and point out that the government is spending on other things as well. That’s fine — but the elephant ain’t moving.

Ms Berejiklian finally went on the attack yesterday afternoon, using an interview on Ben Fordham’s Sydney radio 2GB program to claim Labor would cancel projects if it got into office. She said Mr Daley must answer his own questions on the issue because he wanted to spend $350 million refur­bishing Allianz Stadium anyway.

At the 2015 election, Ms Berejiklian’s predecessor, Mike Baird, ran promising the highly unpop­ular sale of the electricity industry to pay for infrastructure to “transform the state”. He won with 54.3 per cent of the two-party-preferred­ vote — 4.3 per cent more than Ms Berejiklian had in the latest­ Newspoll.

He won because he owned what he was selling, popular or not, and made himself out to be a strong leader. Several polls at the time showed there was only 38 per cent support for the electricity sale.

Ms Berejiklian’s campaign launch in Penrith on Sunday could be critical. She needs a circuit-breaker now that momentum appear­s to be going Labor’s way.

Given she has adopted the sloga­n “taking the pressure off you”, one would expect a big cost-of-living announcement. But she also needs to address the stadiums issue front-on and try to convince people of its benefits and that she is building schools and hospitals as well.

The future of the demolition could be known today after the NSW Land and Environment Court adjourned until this morning a decision on whether to grant an injunction to stop the works.

Demolition work shows the gutting of Allianz Stadium. Picture: 9 News

The injunction was applied­ for because a community group which moved to halt the demolition has announced it will appeal against a decision by the court that the demolition can go ahead.

The hard demolition work is expected to start by ripping off the Allianz roof.

Ms Berejiklian’s efforts to avoid the stadium issue have extended to the $360m new Western Sydney Stadium at Parramatta, which is being treated almost as if it doesn’t exist.

She is not scheduled to visit it during the campaign and a plan to have an open day so the public could see the facility before the election was scrapped.

A spokesman said the stadium would be available for viewing for the public on April 14 and this had been reported in other media, so it was hardly being hidden.

There is excitement about the new stadium among locals. Former Parramatta Eels player Peter Wynn can feel “a buzz around town” ahead of its opening.

Mr Wynn also runs his merch­andise store, Peter Wynn’s Score, on busy Church Street, and is excited­ that local businesses will soon benefit from fans on matchdays.

“The influx on Church Street on game day has been missing for two years. It’ll give a big spike to all those business, all those restaur­ants on game days.”

The government’s controversial stadiums build includes $730m for Allianz, $810m for a reconfig­ur­ation of ANZ Stadium and the Parramatta stadium project.

A further­ $200m was spent on buying ANZ Stadium back from the private operator. At a hearing before Justice Nicola Pain on the Allianz Stadium matter yesterday, Jason Lazarus, the barrister for community group Local Democracy Matters and Waverley Council, sought to extend­ until Monday the temporary freeze on “hard demolition” works, due to expire at 5pm today.

But questions emerged as to whether Justice Pain still had the power to extend the order, when her judgment on Wednesday ruled in Infrastructure NSW’s favour.

She ruled it had not breached any building codes, thereby “dissolving” the temporary ban on demolition works. Justice Pain reserv­ed her decision­ on the stay until 9.15am today.