Mike Baird was a serious threat to the poor image of politicians.
Most people who brought him into conversation would say “that nice Mike Baird’’ and continue on to say how unlike the rest of the politicians he was.
But in a single stroke the premier of NSW has shown us his true colours.
In announcing the spending of one billion dollars on stadiums Sydney doesn’t need, Mike Baird can join the ranks of the typical dunderhead politicians.
Which is to say most of them and which means the ranks of those who still believe in just doing what’s right and no more and no less is not as numerous as it once was.
Let’s go through the so called stadia policy one by one:
A new football stadium seating 50,000 to 55,000 in Moore Park costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
That’s right, right next to what we used to call the Sydney Football Stadium, which seats nearly 50,000 and was only opened in the Bicentennial year of 1988.
There’s nothing wrong with it and there’s no need for a new one, especially in an area so congested when there’s footy being played and right next door at the SCG the Swans are also playing that foreign game from south of the NSW border.
Yes, that’s real logical Mike, spend hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money on another footy stadium when we already have a perfectly good one right next door.
I wonder how many fire engines we could buy with all that money and how many more doctors and nurses we could employ in our hospitals. Or how many roads we could build, railway tracks, maybe spare a few bob on the homeless of Sydney or regional areas doing it tough.
But wait, there’s more.
Nice Mr Baird wants to commit the same atrocity out at Parramatta, where there is a perfectly good stadium, also built in the 1980s.
There’s also talk of millions on a retractable roof at the Olympic Stadium in Homebush and vague talk of a new outer western Sydney stadium.
Nice Mike, do you realise that this is the only really needed stadium – either in Liverpool or Campbelltown, who’ve been ignored for ever and a day when it comes to such facilities.
Everything goes to the western line towns: Parramatta, Blacktown and Penrith.
Why I don’t know, maybe it’s the only line politicians know. Where is that south west again? Is it the Sutherland Shire, maybe.
If it’s not too late, Mike Baird can save his “nice’’ tag by reversing this stupid decision.
Will he or won’t he?
Fair call, Eric.
The government shouldn’t be spending money on stadiums full stop. It’s pretty poor form from Baird here, crying poor for a GST rise but then saying he’s got a billion to spend on stadiums. If the codes want to pour money into stadiums let them do it but if they don’t think it’s worthwhile it probably isn’t.
Build hospitals and schools. Enough spent on sport.
The gov’t has put a life on most infrastructure of 25 years, Convention Centre, SFS two prime examples. The SFS is tired, it wasn’t built perfectly for rectangle sport like Suncorp, it needs a fix but the architecture of it makes it impossible to renovate cheap, it’s easier to start anew. A 60,000 stadium is what is earmarked and it would be a perfect fit for the Rabbits, Roosters, Waratahs, Sydney FC and mid-tier internationals in the three footy codes, it’d be used year-round. ANZ will be the big gun for 60-90,000 events, a roof can make it a convention centre type arena for concerts, conferences like Hillsong etc. and it also is needed at that capacity to attract teams from the European Footy leagues and the NFL like Chelsea, Real Madrid, SF 49ers. These events bring in hundreds if not thousands of interstate and overseas visitors, they employ hotel staff, catering staff, event staff, overtime for industries, those international events are needed for our economy and without these upgrades or expansions or rebuilds we miss out, just like the convention upgrade we need to keep in front of Melbourne, Singapore, HK and others for the big event $$$ for the jobs they bring, so to me, kudos for upgrading it and thinking of jobs 5-10 years from now. On Parramatta Stadium, I think a small extension to the north-south ends to add a tier and make it a fully rectangular two level stadium would suffice considering only the Eels and Wanderers call it home, a total rebuild there is not needed.