https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...k=c54e2b2baa03b81f54efb0faeab1b2ec-1512301969
Investing in our stadiums is an investment in the State’s future
Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Sport, The Daily Telegraph
in an hour
FIRST and foremost, the NSW government’s investment in stadiums is an investment in the future of our state.
Not a decision just for today but an investment with a 30-year return. All too often governments shy away from good long-term decision-making.
Rebuilding Stadium Australia (ANZ), Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz) and the Western Sydney Stadium (Parramatta) is about securing not only our sporting future but also our major events future.
These stadiums inject more than a billion dollars into the NSW economy every year.
If we don’t invest in these facilities, we put at risk that critical revenue for our state and the jobs of one in 23 people who rely on the events sector.
Make no mistake, the competition is fierce. Melbourne has built the Docklands Stadium and AAMI Park, as well as rebuilding both the Northern and Southern Stands of the MCG.
The Adelaide Oval rebuild, which was met with plenty of political resistance, has been a godsend for the city of churches. Once the doors opened the public quickly realised what they had been missing out on and it lead to other significant investments in Adelaide.
In Perth a $1.6 billion stadium is about to open and, as much as it pains me to say it, Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium has been the benchmark for rectangular stadiums in Australia.
Sydney is not even a starter. After the Olympics we stopped building just when everyone else started. After a lost decade, we are now running last. But our investment in three new stadiums won’t just put us back in the game, it will make us number one again.
In Western Sydney we are replacing a 1980s design that is well past its use-by date with the best boutique stadium in Australia.
As for Sydney Football Stadium, it simply doesn’t offer anything that is demanded of a stadium that lies on the doorstep of the nation’s most important CBD. A refurbishment is not an option. It won’t allow us to put in the extra 300 female toilets, 400 disability accessible seats and 300 food and beverage service points that are required for a stadium that holds 45,000 people. On the safety front, it no longer meets an acceptable modern standard and our capacity to mitigate those risks will run out in 2019.
The redevelopment of Stadium Australia was always a case of “when” not “if”. Delaying this rebuild would mean a vastly more expensive solution in the future. It’s time we reject compromise and make Stadium Australia the best large-scale purpose-built rectangular venue in the world. Our fans deserve no less.
Over the time it takes us to complete the stadiums rebuild, the NSW government will invest more than $200 billion dollars into health and education. Stadiums represent just 1 per cent of that. Let’s put those figures into perspective. In simple terms that means we think health and education are 100 times more important than stadiums.
The visitor economy will be crucial for driving revenues that support health and education into the future, in both Sydney and Regional NSW. Kicking the stadium decision down the road to score a few political points is weak leadership.
Government defends stadium rebuilds
Letting Stadium Australia fall further behind its competition for major events will damage the Western Sydney economy. We must act now.
With the state’s economy being managed properly we can finally invest for the future. And importantly, we have the balance right with two stadiums in the west and one in the east.
The future of sport and major events in NSW truly is a bright one.
Stuart Ayres is NSW Minister for Sport.
