Sydney can afford to have it all, NSW Sports Minister Stuart Ayres has assured parliament, doubling down on the government's commitment to ANZ and Allianz stadiums.
Mr Ayres said the government had every intention to follow through on the multi-billion dollar promise to knock down and rebuild the two stadiums during question time on Tuesday, amid speculation of a backdown.
The sports minister rejected the opposition's imputation the government was prioritising stadiums over schools and hospitals, arguing the state could afford both.
"I'm happy to keep reinforcing to everybody in NSW, but particularly in western Sydney, you can have a new stadium in Parramatta, you can have a world class rectangular stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, you can have have a new hospital in Campbelltown ..." Mr Ayres said.
"But you can only have those things when you make the right decisions to manage the economy properly."
Opposition Leader Luke Foley accused Premier Gladys Berejiklian of preparing to backdown on her stadiums commitment.
"Why is it you're so weak you can't hold the line on a single one of your big policies?" Mr Foley said during question time.
The government's stadium policy would see Allianz and ANZ stadiums knocked down and rebuilt in addition to an upgraded Parramatta Stadium at a cost of $2.7 billion.
Earlier in the day, western Sydney business groups said it would be "a tragedy" if the government were to prioritise the smaller Allianz over ANZ.
Western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber David Borger said it would be a mistake for the premier to prioritise the rebuild of Allianz, as has been speculated, over the larger Homebush venue in the city's west.
"What would be terrible, what would be a tragedy would be to see the eastern suburbs stadium prioritised over the one in the middle of Sydney," Mr Borger told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chairman Christopher Brown warned the NSW government it risked losing the NRL Grand Final to another state if ANZ Stadium was not developed.
"There is a contractual legal agreement between the NRL and the NSW government that if they were to rebuild ANZ the way they need to do it then Sydney will continue to host the grand final," Mr Brown said.
"Delay or dump the western Sydney stadium and Sydney will lose the NRL Grand Final, that's an easy choice for government we hope."
Australian Associated Press
