The new New South Wales sports minister, Alister Heskens, has not seen the business case for the redevelopment of Penrith Stadium and has said no decision has been taken to acquire a harness racing paceway site next door, despite issuing notices to begin compulsory acquisition.
The latest revelations about the redevelopment, located in the electorate of the former minister for sport Stuart Ayres, have raised new questions about the $309m project – which was the only suburban stadium project to survive a savings review.
Appearing before a budget estimates committee, Heskens said no decision had been about the paceway, and that site and the current stadium land is being analysed.
The office of sport’s chief executive, Karen Jones, told the hearing: “The business case was being re-prosecuted.”
She said the cost-benefit ratio for the project was positive.
Heskens and government officials were unable to tell the hearing whether the $309m allocated in the May budget had included acquiring the paceway site, which is owned by the Penrith Horticultural Association and is used for the Penrith show.
Ayres stepped down as a minister last month as a result of a separate controversy over the appointment of former deputy premier John Barilaro as trade commissioner to New York.
Ayres and the Penrith Panthers NRL club appeared to indicate in July that a new stadium on the paceway site was a done deal.
On 5 July the Panthers issued a statement saying: “The NSW government has commenced commercial negotiations for the acquisition of the Penrith paceway, as part of the stadium redevelopment – allowing Panthers to remain at BlueBet Stadium next season.”
Ayres said: “I welcome the commencement of commercial negotiations by Infrastructure NSW for the acquisition of the Penrith paceway as part of the redevelopment of Penrith Stadium.”
“The Penrith paceway, its harness racing and agricultural show have been an important part of the Penrith community for a long time. These negotiations are as much about securing their long term future in Penrith as they are about redevelopment of the stadium.”
But Heskens appeared to indicate that both sites – the current stadium site and the paceway site – were still being considered.
He said the notice to the paceway was about commencing commercial negotiations as a precursor to compulsory acquisition, but a final decision had not been made.
Labor’s Treasury spokesperson, Daniel Mookhey, accused Heskens of “making it up”.
The opposition’s sports spokesperson, Julia Finn, said: “It is cruel to issue an acquisition notice to a private landholder when you are not even sure you want to acquire their property or not.”
The decision to scrap all but one of the upgrades has caused a major rift between the NRL and the NSW government, which led to the premier, Dominic Perrottet, being accused of reneging on a promise.
Heskens refused to say what the NSW government had paid to the NRL to keep the grand final in Sydney to 2022, saying it was commercial in confidence.
“It would facilitate their [Queensland’s] capacity to steal the grand final, which is rightly ours,” he told the hearing.
