NSW state election: Michael Daley doubles down on plan to axe SCG Trust board

The NSW Labor leader defends his plan to sack the SCG Trust’s board, saying it’s “game over“ for the high-profile members.

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley. Picture: Justin Lloyd

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has defended his intention to sack the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust’s board, declaring it’s “game over” for the high-profile members he’ll remove by “hell or high water” if elected on March 23.

At a press conference in Westmead, in Sydney’s west this afternoon, Mr Daley said he would be prepared to “change legislation” in order to sack the board that advocated for the $730 million stadium rebuild.

Mr Daley’s comments come just 24 hours after he clashed with broadcaster Alan Jones during a fiery studio interview, where he accused the SCG board of “colluding” with the Berejiklian government to fund the costly stadium project.

When asked by reporters if he had “misspoken” when claiming the SCG Trust had ripped out the stadium’s fire sprinklers “under the cover of darkness,” Mr Daley stood his ground describing the resulting uproar as the “great red herring of the day”.

“I don’t care what powerful figures are angry at me today,” Mr Daley said. “I’m going to stick up for the people of NSW, who see this $730m stadium deal as a big waste of money and a rip-off.”

The 15-member board includes 13 trustees who are appointed by the government and two who are elected by some 19,000 SCG members.

Along with Jones, those facing the sack under a Labor government include the Trust chairman Tony Shepherd, former News Limited Chairman John Hartigan and businessman Maurice Newman, who is considering suing Mr Daley over the collusion claims.

“I regret nothing about what I did or said yesterday,” Mr Daley said, telling reporters his on-air comments had been “overwhelmingly endorsed” by his Labor colleagues.

If elected Premier, Mr Daley said he would seek to see “how much damage has been done” and would determine costs before deciding whether to demolish or refurbish the existing stadium.

Flanked by Shadow Minister for Health Walt Secord, the pair announced that if elected they would deliver more than 4900 extra health and hospital workers across the state.

“While the Liberals and National splurge $2.2 billion on stadiums, Labor will invest in the health and hospital system,” Mr Secord said. “Labor will support doctors, nurses and health and hospital workers.”

The shadow health minister also took aim at the Berijiklian government’s controversial Northern Beaches Hospital, which today was notably absent from Bureau of Health Information on NSW emergency department data wait times.

“Over the past 8 years the Liberal government has delivered one hospital, the privatised Northern Beaches Hospital and it has been a debacle and a disaster ever since it opened its doors,” Mr Secord said.

“No bandages and no insulin? And now we find out there is no data telling us about what is going on inside that hospital,” he said describing the lack of information as the equivalent of the “dog ate my homework” excuse.

SCG board members Alan Jones and Tony Shepherd at the SCG yesterday. Picture: John Feder

Daley denies Liberals payback plot

Mr Daley has denied his decision to sack four members of the SCG Trust was a partisan attack on the Liberal government.

Mr Daley announced yesterday that four members of the board including Tony Shepherd, who headed Water NSW under Tony Abbott, former NSW Liberal premier Barry O’Farrell, and Maurice Newman, one-time adviser to Mr Abbott, would be stood down if Labor won the March 23 election.

“It’s not a partisan attack, it is my response as a prospective premier to the decisions that a corporate body has made,” he said on Sky News today.

Mr Daley is facing backlash after his sensational announcement of the sacking of the board on 2GB radio yesterday was criticised as a political stunt to generate publicity.

The prospective Premier said he hadn’t “concocted” his announcement overnight and planned to reveal it in front of Alan Jones, with whom he claims to have a good relationship.

“It just so happened that a few days ago I was invited onto Alan Jones’ show and I thought, man to man what better place to make the announcement than with the longest serving member of that trust,” Mr Daley said.

“I did him [Jones] the courtesy of sitting there and telling him face-to-face exactly what I thought about that board.”

On 2GB this morning, Alan Jones said “there might be a few lawyers busy today”, in response to the false claims by Mr Daley the Trust had “ripped” the fire sprinklers out.

But Mr Daley told Sky News the Trust was answerable to the people of NSW.

“They don’t operate under the cover of darkness in their own right ... they have no rights to operate as a body other than those rights given to them by parliament,” Mr Daley said.