“A knockdown/rebuild on the existing site would result in an estimated $300 million in business disruption costs,” the SCG Trust said in a draft media statement prepared in April 2016, which it did not release. “That $300 million of public money could be better spent elsewhere.” But a knockdown/rebuild on the existing site is now the policy of the Berejiklian government. And the trust is thrilled. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video What happened to the $300 million in “business disruption costs”? There’s been no explanation.

The April 2016 email emerged in a document dump triggered by the state Parliament. The dump reveals how a host of positions, once seemingly important, have been swept aside by events or changing priorities. When former premier Mike Baird first said he would commit $1.6 billion to new stadiums, he said a governing body would be established to run stadium infrastructure. The body was needed to prevent competition between the SCG Trust and the entities running other government-owned stadiums, which have since been consolidated into Venues NSW. The hand-written note from Premier Gladys Berejiklian to SCG Trust chair Tony Shepherd, included in a NSW Upper House call for papers on Sydney stadiums. But this idea, too, has quietly been dropped, to the frustration of Paul Doorn, a former executive director of sport infrastructure at the NSW Office of Sport, who last year was appointed to run Venues NSW.

“The current dilemma for government on the priorities for the redevelopment of the stadia network (e.g. ANZS v Allianz) would not be a problem at all if there was just one governance structure for the whole of the stadia network,” Mr Doorn wrote to his former colleagues in the Office of Sport in July 2017, when it started to appear like Premier Gladys Berejiklian might shift the government’s position. The papers released to the NSW Parliament have already revealed the occasionally ventriloquistic relationship between Sports Minister Stuart Ayres and the chairman of the SCG Trust, Tony Shepherd. They also demonstrate the unequivocal support of the NRL and Football Federation Australia for Mr Baird’s April 2016 stadium policy, which prioritised the redevelopment of ANZ stadium at Olympic Park, and left for later a more modest upgrade of Allianz Stadium at Moore Park. “FFA, while supporting the redevelopment of Allianz Stadium, has a strong preference for the development of ANZ Stadium to be prioritised and completed first,” FFA chief David Gallop wrote to Ms Berejiklian in August 2017. NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said the code supported ANZ as a priority, though safety and compliance issues at Allianz should be addressed.

“Should there be additional capital funding available for more expansive works, then we believe the best outcome for sport and taxpayers would be for the current Allianz Stadium to be knocked down and a new 35,000-seat, purpose-built rectangular stadium built in its place, similar to the new $360 million Western Sydney Stadium at Parramatta,” Greenberg wrote to Ms Berejiklian in September. NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said the code supported an ANZ Stadium redevelopment as a priority, though safety and compliance issues at Allianz should be addressed. Credit:AAP Instead, Ms Berejiklian committed in November to a $705 million, 45,000-seat stadium at Allianz. In draft correspondence with members, the SCG Trust argued against building a new stadium with less than 40,000 seats. “If Sydney is to host FIFA and rugby world cups, there are requirements of stadia in the host city to have seating capacities of more than 40,000,” the trust wrote in a draft circular. But in their correspondence with Ms Berejiklian, the Australian Rugby Union and NSW Rugby Union cite different figures for potential World Cup stadium requirements.

According to then ARU chief Bill Pulver and Waratahs chief Andrew Hore, the minimum seating capacity for a World Cup quarter-final is 35,000, rising to 60,000 for the semi-final and final. Unlike the NRL and FFA, however, the rugby organisations strongly supported a new stadium at Moore Park as a priority over ANZ Stadium. When former premier Mike Baird first said he would commit $1.6 billion to new stadiums, he said a new governing body would be established to run stadium infrastructure. Credit:Brianne Makin The parliamentary papers demonstrate the strength of public feeling about the government’s stadium policy, which is now to spend more than $2 billion on a new stadium at Moore Park, a new stadium at Parramatta, and an upgrade at Olympic Park. Ms Berejiklian’s office has received hundreds of written complaints. The papers also demonstrate who, in the community, is able to receive a personalised response from a senior politician.