MORE and more it’s looking like the Coalition Government’s stadiums policy will be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back at the state election in March.
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But it did not have to be that way.
For months polling has been telling this government that its plans to knock down and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park and to extensively refurbish ANZ Stadium at Homebush do not have the support of most voters.
In addition, more than 200,000 people have put their name to an online petition urging Premier Gladys Berejiklian to dump the plan and find a better way to spend up to $2 billion of public money.
But still the government has persisted with a policy that is at once unnecessary, excessive and inequitable.
New opposition leader Michael Daley must barely be able to believe his luck.
Having only taken the top job for Labor following the spectacular unravelling of Luke Foley’s political career, Mr Daley now looks set to be handed the state’s premiership by an all-too-willing government.
Mr Daley has clearly read the public mood better than the government, last week warning the SCG Trust that they would not receive a cent from a Labor Government to rebuild Allianz Stadium that is scheduled to be razed in January.
If there is a change of government in March, he warned, the Trust would be left with a hole in the ground at Moore Park as they tried to work out how to fund the $700 million rebuild itself.
It was a political masterstroke and the sort of plain speaking we see too rarely from politicians.
And two weekend polls confirmed Mr Daley was on the right track, both putting him in a winning position for the next election.
But this government has a sorry record of shooting itself in the foot.
First there was the council amalgamations policy, one that had great merit but was never properly sold to the people – particularly those in small council areas like Oberon who feared a loss of identity.
Then there was the failed bid to ban greyhound racing, a policy that intended to punish an entire industry for the disgraceful behaviour of a few.
And now it’s the stadiums.
No Labor campaign team could have done a better job of undermining the current state government than the government has done itself.
