New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed Sydney’s worst kept secret — that the government plans to spend $2 billion on demolishing and rebuilding the 18-year-old Sydney Olympic Stadium at Homebush, and the Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park in the city’s east.

The premier described the new designs as “colosseum-inspired” and an investment in the tourism industry.

The plan will see Allianz Stadium at Moore Park, designed by Philip Cox and opened in 1988, torn down and rebuilt over three years at an estimated cost of $705 million. Construction of the new 45,000-seat stadium will mean the 2020 NRL grand final will be held at the SCG.

The plan overturns former premier Mike Baird’s April 2016 announcement that the stadium would receive lower cost upgrades instead and is a major victory for the SCG Trust.

Read more:

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-nsw-government-wants-to-spend-a-s...

Goodness! There I was minding my own business, taking a little rest after penning a piece on how I just couldn't understand the virtues of the NSW government spending $2 billion of our money to knock down the Olympic Stadium and the SFS, to replace them with new ones – all when there is ZERO public demand to do either – when all hell broke loose. The phone started ringing. Texts started pinging. Twitter started zinging.

And all together they were singing: go harder, this is a DISGRACE!

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fitz-files/stadium-replacement-a-monumen...

There is growing opposition to the State Government's decision to spend $2 billion knocking down and rebuilding both Sydney Olympic and Sydney Football stadiums, with NSW Liberal and Nationals MPs privately expressing anger and concern over the plan.

A petition on Change.org calling on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to "stop wasting money", started by sports commentator and former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons, has gathered more than 62,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.

"We are tired of taxpayer dollars being lavished on building facilities for sports big business, while community sport withers on the vine for lack of facilities and resources," Mr FitzSimons said.

Sports Minister Stuart Ayres has been on a media blitz this morning defending the decision.

He told ABC Sydney: "I think the key point for us is that over a 20-year period NSW has gone from being the best-placed state to host sport and major events in Australia, to just about the worst-placed state."

Politically, it is dividing the State Government with many backbenchers seething over the plan.

The ABC has spoken to dozens of Lower and Upper House MPs and all bar one raised their concern about the decision, while their anger was palpable.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-04/sydney-stadium-knock-down-decision...

Whatsernamejiklian wants to build a mausoleum to herself... Read from top.

I refer to the looming disaster of #StadiumSplurge – the idea of dropping two or three billion dollars to knock over three relatively modern stadiums and redo them on the back of precisely no public demand to do anything.

All kinds of wild predictions were made about the economic benefits, with just about nothing on who was going to have to pay the piper when the bill came.

And this week we have seen the results. The Eels and the Wanderers are balking at paying three times the freight to rent the new version of Parramatta Stadium.

And why wouldn’t they? Sure, the new stadium may see a momentary spike in attendance for the first few matches. But how many think it will bring in three times the crowd? Exactly.

It is a nonsense, and a transparent one. This is not just your correspondent bleating in the corner. A lot of rusted on fans who have contacted me are deeply pissed off about the whole shambles and threatening to simply stop going.

These problems will be multiplied many times over when it comes to Homebush and the SFS and, if I may say the bleeding obvious, it is ludicrous for the government to push so hard to knock the SFS over with an election so close, when the proper course is to hold off  and let the people decide what they want. You know, like a democracy?

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/topic/the-fitz-files-1rk

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The Land and Environment Court has halted the "hard demolition" of the Sydney Football Stadium while they prepare a judgement on a legal challenge on its reconstruction.

• Infrastructure NSW warned delays were costing their client $46,000 a day
• A last-minute injunction on Friday prevented the developer from carrying out "hard demolition"
• Lawyers for Local Democracy Matters and Waverley Council have argued the planning process was flawed

Justice Nicola Pain issued an 11th-hour injunction on Friday, which prevented the developer Lendlease from carrying out "hard demolition" works as part of the government $730 million plan to knockdown and rebuild the stadium.

The ruling means the roof and walls of the stadium can't be removed until March 8, only two weeks before the NSW state election.

The community group Local Democracy Matters and Waverley Council launched the legal challenge, claiming the planning process was flawed.

Their lawyers said the NSW Government did not adhere to its own rules around public consultation and design excellence requirements.

Thousands of seats have already been ripped out of the stadium.

Speaking in court on Monday, Local Democracy Matters' barrister Tim Robertson SC said the matter was urgent because the process was "moving from so-called soft demolition to hard demolition".

"It's the initiating step to destroying the stadium," he said.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-26/court-halts-hard-demolition-of-sy...

Was Michael Daley mad or smart to take on one of the nation's most influential broadcasters?

In a heated on-air exchange yesterday, the NSW Opposition Leader told radio broadcaster Alan Jones he would sack him and the rest of the SCG Trust board, if he wins the election.

The Berejiklian Government last year announced it would knock down and rebuild the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS), and dismantling works have already started.

But Mr Daley has warned if Labor wins the NSW election on March 23, it will not rebuild the stadium and will instead pursue priorities in health and education.

Labor and Liberal party insiders are now listening closely to see if Jones seeks his revenge on Mr Daley over the next two and a half weeks before New South Wales voters go to the polls.

When the ABC spoke with Jones after he came off air, he simply laughed off the incident and said "Michael Daley is out of his depth".

"It doesn't matter who gets sacked, I'm doing this for nothing," he said.

....

For many, it's hard to imagine the incident will be left at the friendly banter between the two men as Mr Daley exited the studio. 

"That was a tantrum, throwing his toys out of the cot because he was under pressure in an interview," Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said.

"For the next two and a half weeks Jones will question Daley's integrity and credibility on air," a former Liberal minister said.

"When you listen back to the full interview with Alan Jones it felt like he was trying to nail Jones back," one Liberal MP said.

"He was rattled by Jones as he was being belted over donations when he was at Randwick City Council," he said.

But another former senior Liberal staffer described it as "a smart move".

"He rallies the Labor troops, finally he seems to be fighting for something and against someone they despise," he said.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-06/mad-or-smart-michael-daley-row-wi...

It's time to put Jones out to pasture with Dolly the Sheep... Demolishing this stadium is madness... Now to see what the L&E court is going to say... We basically know what the engineers and developers/promoters sitting on the court are going to say. I could be wrong...

Read from top.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the demolition of the Sydney Football Stadium is now out of her hands, and it would be inappropriate for the Government to interfere.

• Mr Daley has sought an urgent meeting with Lendlease for details on the stadium demolition
• He said he was trying to "find out what the Government is up to"
• Ms Berejiklian today announced four new routes on the Sydney Metro Rail network

With more heavy machinery onsite today, State Opposition Leader Michael Daley revealed he was seeking an urgent meeting with the chief executive of Lendlease to obtain more information about the demolition timetable.

He said he was acting because the Government had obfuscated the issue.

"That is a dereliction of duty by the Premier," Mr Daley said.

"I shouldn't have to — on behalf of the people of NSW and while we are in caretaker mode — talk to a person who is doing the demolition to find out what the Government is up to."

Ms Berejiklian dismissed the move as a stunt.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-14/sydney-football-stadium-demolitio...

Read from top.

The demolition of the PERFECTLY GOOD stadium should stop. The government is in a caretaker mode and such a project should be arrested forthwith. Gladys has been dishonest from the start on this issue and she could HAVE AND SHOULD HAVE PLACE A STOP TO THE DEMOLITION UNTIL PEOPLE HAD SPOKEN (VOTED). 

Today (17 3 19), the editorial of the Sunday Murdograh tells that Gladys is "our best chance" which should tell you that go with the second best in this case. Vote labor or for your dog but do not vote for Gladys or any of her affiliates such as the guns and fishing-tackle party... Of course Piers, on page 103, the islander philosopher tells us that the stadium being demolished is recognised internationally as a "death trap", though it has been certified for years as being good enough to hold zillion football matches including soccer for the Sydney Olympics WITH NOT A SINGLE PROBLEM — not even a whiff of a bad fart in the sponsored corporate boxes. Would the international sports organisation such as the Olympics hold matches in a death trap? I don't think so. Apparently, there a loose "slanted" report commissioned by the Gladys government has just been released that pointed out "faults" with the thinsgters — but as we know with CONservatives organising a war on Saddam, you can publish any sort of crap or report in the media, with gravitas. So Piers, the Dunny Islander, blasts Peter FitzSimons, a former international rugby player and now a writer, for contesting the demolition of a perfectly good stadium, for Gladys political whim and help the elephant demolishers/builders (read at top). 

But the top icing on the cake today goes to Madam Credlin, who warns us that should we not vote for her lying scum turdy, her former right-hand puppet before he was booted out by Turnbull, the sky will be falling. She is extremely disingenuous about linking the "independents" and Labor through GetUp!... First Ms Stegall, the independent with the best chance to topple Turdy is not aligned with Labor, nor GetUp! and if they are converging somewhat, it's because they all have intelligence on their side, while Abbott-the-Turd is thick in the head on the issue of global warming. As well Peta (Madam Credlin) declares the internet to be a sewer where hatred poisons minds... I have news for you. Newspapers like the Sunday Sewerograph have been poisoning minds for years, not with hatred per se but fake news and a liberal dose of CONservatism that could make a Hitler cry with envy.

Under this rubbish icing layer, on page 21, Miranda Devine tells us that we are hypocrites (I've no idea if she uses this term, but the sentiment is there) because we think "Catholics are guilty until found innocent"... I have it from many source sources, direct and indirect, that this would make the blood of many abused, present and past, boil... THEY KNOW. Catholics are guilty until found innocent??? No. this is rubbish. 

Many catholics may be guilty of believing in fairies, angels and demons, but this is beside the point. Most priests are honest about this. But some priest have been abusing their position of power for sexual deeds. This is a given — and those naughty priests who have been caught by secular laws are only a small portion of those who have offended.

These bad deeds also happen in other denominations and other religions. Remember our GG? That a cardinal got caught by the law is quite significant. Whether he is guilty or not, the law has decided so, until an appeal is heard which he has a good chance of winning, though I have no idea what new argument can be brought in to explain vanilla sex acts...

Read from top.

According to some idiots at the Daily Toilograpfhfk, the demolition of the perfectly good Sydney "Allianz" Stadium is necessary because Melbourne is laughing at us (pages 58-59 March 9 DT). Yes, you've seen the real reason for turning 50,000 tonnes of concrete into rubble and build the SAME stuff with more concrete plus some bizzaroid lighting to make the locals demand the state of NSW government supplies special blinds to prevent this "magic" aura penetrating their private bedrooms. 

One of the point in this whole stupidity is that concrete is one of the most active CO2 producer:

The cement industry is one of two largest producers of carbon dioxide (CO2), creating up to 5% of worldwide man-made emissions of this gas, of which 50% is from the chemical process and 40% from burning fuel.[1] The carbon dioxide CO2 produced for the manufacture of structural concrete (using ~14% cement) is estimated at 410 kg/m3 (~180 kg/tonne @ density of 2.3 g/cm3) (reduced to 290 kg/m3 with 30% fly ash replacement of cement).[4] The CO2 emission from the concrete production is directly proportional to the cement content used in the concrete mix; 900 kg of CO2 are emitted for the fabrication of every ton of cement, accounting for 88% of the emissions associated with the average concrete mix.

Read more: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concrete

Hanywhayyy, one Mr Leoniskabyc should state that though I love Melbourne when I visit on my bicycle, I'd rather be living in Perth, Adelaide or Shangai before Melbourne. But this is below the belt. The reeeeaaaaaliteee is that the Melburnianistas peeeooople are crazy-mad about sports. Syderneysiderers are far less enclined to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon in a fishbowl dedicated to sweat production — and go fishing in the shade instead. This is why the pictures accompanying the Teleportographmuck is misleading. There are people(!) in the artist impression of the New rebuilt stadium. The last time I saw so many Sydneypushover peoplepler going to these stadiums was for the Olympics and most of the crowd had come from overseas as Sydtowneraistas had left town to avoid the hooolabulaaaa.  

"Sydney will be left behind" says Eddie McGuire (a teasing melbournamist if I see one). Fantastic says Gus... Don't destroy things with envy in your trousers.

Read from top.

The colour of the seats in the stadium are (were) the only problem. They were blue. Nothing wrong with this, except when a match is (was) televised, the empty seats stood out like the proverbial dog balls. Hence many stadiums, around this fair land of unfair stadium demolition, had different colour seats such as red, yellow, brown, which on TV — before ultra-high definition — look like a large crowd is there despite empty seats. TV bosses loved it. At matches too, the large TV screen would announce: attendance tonight 6,549!... which in real term is quite empty when the stadium can seat 45,000 and most of the "attendance" seats on the side where the TV broadcast is shot from.

The problem would be easily fixed by ground staff blowing up inflatable dummies — possibly available at your local rubber store in rows of ten. These dummies would not be much different from the ordinary crowd that goes wild every time a try is score. On this score, canned crowd noises are available on any Mac computers at the push of a button. Place it on a loop and it's an EasyFix.

Read from top.

According to a secret report submitted to the trust, fixing the "problems" of the Allianz stadium would have cost about AU$18 million. But the Gladys government was desperate to piss some elephants into developers pockets... Get rid of her. Read from top.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/21/allianz-stadium-report-shows-case-for-rebuild-a-sham-michael-daley-says

Last year, the Government announced that construction giant Lendlease would both demolish and rebuild the facility.

While Lendlease has successfully demolished the stadium, leaving a giant hole in the ground, the company looks unlikely to finish the project due to a dispute with the Government.

The Government budgeted $729 million for the knock-down and rebuild to be completed by 2022.

But Sports Minister John Sidoti said Lendlease was not able to meet the Government's targets.

"The budget is $729 million … they're our projected costs and we have to meet those," he said.

"We've asked [Lendlease] to sharpen their pencil and they're unable to meet the objectives of the Government."

Mr Sidoti said negotiations were already underway with other construction firms to finish the job.

"There's a lot of competitive tension in the industry at the moment. There's a lot of interest being shown."

The Sydney Football Stadium project became a major election issue, with Labor refusing to rebuild the stadium, labelling it a "giant vanity project".

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-26/sydney-football-stadium-rebuild-w...

Read from top.

Read from top. Thank you Cathy for the best cartoons...

A view of the new mud wrestling championship venue:

A controversial demolition and rebuild of the Sydney Football Stadium has blown out by almost $100 million.

The Berejiklian Government has today revealed it awarded a $735 million contract to John Holland to finish the stadium in time for 2022 NRL Grand Final.

It takes the total estimated cost of the project to $828 million.

The announcement comes just over a year after Lendlease was named as the original construction partner.

Earlier this year the government confirmed Lendlease could not complete the project in time or on budget.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/morning-briefing-wednesday/11808110

Read from top.

We all should be angry at the Berejiklian Government — not so much for "incompetence" but for what appears to be a sharing of demolution/construction between various developers to keep them "buzy" at an unecessary cost to the taxpayers. The original stadium was perfectly okay, but some ficticious fault were promoted in the media, in order to proceed with a useless project...

The same can be said of the "Paramatta new MAAS" that will demand the demolition of beautiful heritage buildings... This isn't "progress". It's lunacy. 

---------

The winning design for the new Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta has been revealed, and criticised, as a "monstrosity on stilts" by the State Opposition.

• Two heritage buildings will have to be demolished for the new Powerhouse Museum to be built
• The new facility will have the largest exhibition gallery of any museum in Australia
• Labor has described the winning design, and its cost, as a "monstrosity"

The design for the new Riverside museum from French-Japanese firm Moreau Kusunoki and Australian company Genton was chosen by an international panel.

Two heritage buildings will be bulldozed to make way for the multi-level gallery, which will predominantly be constructed on the site of disused car park.

It will include 60 studio residences which will be available to scientists, researchers and regional students for overnight stays.

But Willow Grove, a 1870s heritage villa that was once a maternity hospital, and St George's Terraces, will be demolished.

Arts minister Don Harwin said while some would be disappointed about that, the new facility would be worth it.

"It's simple, it's cost effective but it's also iconic and fit for purpose," he said.

"It's going to have the largest exhibition gallery of any museum in the country — 20 metres high, column free, 3000 square metres, capable of being opened up to the riverbank becoming a huge stage.

"I think it's an incredible facility."

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-17/winning-design-for-new-parramatta...

Read from top.

Gus note: The heritage buildings could (and should) be preserved like the buildings accommodate the site at the Sydney Museum in the city.