Acting NSW Premier John Barilaro found himself confronted with a tough crowd as he attempted to spruik the government's controversial $2.3 billion Sydney stadium policy to a room of mayors and councillors, many from the state's regional areas.

Mr Barilaro was booed and heckled as he described the government's decision to knock down and rebuild both the Allianz Stadium at Moore Park and ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park. Delivering the keynote address to the annual NSW local government conference on Tuesday, he said the decision was not a "country versus city investment".

Mr Barilaro, who is also the minister for regional development, made the remarks as part of a broader speech which endeavoured to sell the government's commitment to the bush.

"We all know the [ANZ] stadium was built for a unique purpose, and that was the Sydney Olympics," Mr Barilaro told the conference.

"What we are seeing now is an investment by the NSW government to build not just a stadium but a venue, to make sure Sydney remains, and NSW remains, a sporting destination, a venue destination, a tourism destination, which is important for the economy and growing jobs."

But he was momentarily interrupted by booing and heckles of "waste of money" from some members of the audience, which was comprised of representatives from most of NSW's 128 councils, 95 of which are outside of Sydney.

The government has faced considerable backlash over the revised stadium policy since announcing it last month.

The announcement was a departure from the more modest $1.6 billion commitment made by former premier Mike Baird to upgrade the former Olympic stadium known as ANZ at Olympic Park, and spend leftover funds re-fitting the 30-year-old Allianz Stadium at Moore Park.

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Lithgow Mayor Stephen Lesslie, an independent, said Mr Barilaro's remarks were met with "ripples of derisive laughter" at the conference.

Cr Lesslie said in the Lithgow community the stadium policy was being "treated with contempt".

"It's a complete waste of money. We've got rural fire services, dams, water, sewage, forests, all of these matters that city councils don't have to deal with and a small ratepayer base to draw on."

Snowy Monaro Regional Council's mayor John Rooney said the money would be better spent on regional transport infrastructure.

"It's just very unfortunate to be rebuilding relatively modern stadiums in Sydney when the transport needs of regional NSW are being neglected," he said.

However, councillors from the NSW-Victorian border had a different view.

Cr Gail Law said residents who lived inside the Federation Council local government area were "virtually Victorians" and could see the benefits of Melbourne's sporting culture.

"I think if Sydney wants to stay with the game, they need to do that," she said.

Federation council deputy mayor Shaun Whitechurch said "being down near the border we can see Melbourne is really going hard and attracting so much tourism".

Mr Barilaro said the government had committed to investing $1.3 billion in regional NSW, in addition $300 million as part of a regional tourism fund.

John Barilaro finds Sydney stadiums a tough sell to regional councils

Sports Minister Stuart Ayres has zeroed in on two key complaints about his controversial $2.5 billion sports stadium announcement in arming government MPs with information to respond to public concerns.

MPs were emailed template letters and talking points on the policy on Friday as community debate over the merits of the spending intensified following the announcement by Mr Ayres and Premier Gladys Berejiklian a week earlier.

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Sydney stadiums cost could build half an Olympics

The $2.5 billion plan to knock down and rebuild ANZ, Allianz and Parramatta stadiums is being met with rising opposition.

The government has announced it will demolish and rebuild ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, Allianz Stadium at Moore Park and Parramatta Stadium.

About $2 billion of that will be spent on ANZ and Allianz, sparking criticism from some quarters, including the state opposition, which has said the money would be better spent on health and education.

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Ministers commonly issue talking points and "standard letters" to MPs after a major announcement. The letters issued by Mr Ayres seek to address the specific concerns about the cost of the policy and the proposal to knock down and rebuild Allianz.

A letter for constituents with an "issue with cost" portrays the spending as "an investment into our vital tourism industry, which is worth $33.2 billion per year to the NSW economy and supports more than 160,000 jobs".

A letter designed for those with an "issue with replacing Allianz Stadium" argues: "To compete globally and attract national and international events, our stadiums must have the most modern facilities that offer a great experience for fans".

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"This investment will drive growth in the visitor economy, realise the economic and social benefits of a strong cultural and sporting sector, and support liveability for the people of NSW," it says.

A third letter is described as for "general" use. 

Mr Ayres said: "Of course I provide information to MPs on public policy."

The public backlash has prompted the chairman of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust Tony Shepherd to defend the plan for Allianz – also known as the Sydney Football Stadium – which is under his control.

In an opinion piece for Fairfax Media, Mr Shepherd describes the plan as a "bold announcement to fix problems created in the 1980s".

Echoing comments previously made by Mr Ayres about a lack of women's toilets and food outlets, Mr Shepherd said the stadium was "built in a different era".

"Back then it hosted only male players, a time when your average league player was a labourer, a milkman or garbo who played footy on the weekend," he said.

Mr Shepherd said the stadium "doesn't meet modern safety standards, the venue is rusted and ageing" and unfit to be simply renovated.

'Dear XX': Minister reveals key complaints over $2.5b stadium plan

In the 17 years since the Sydney Olympics, every Australian capital city with major sports content, except Sydney, has rebuilt old stadiums or constructed new ones.

Allianz Stadium, on the edge of Sydney's CBD, will no longer be guaranteed safe after 2018, while ANZ Stadium at Homebush in the city's west has been a compromised facility since it was built for the 2000 Games.

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Should the NSW government cancel its plan to spend $2 billion rebuilding both stadiums, Sydney will be left with three facilities suitable for AFL (SCG, ANZ and the Giants' boutique stadium at Homebush) and two rectangular stadiums for rugby league, rugby union and soccer (an unsafe Allianz and a 30,000-seater at Parramatta).

This will leave Sydney in last place in the race among Australian capitals to stage major sporting events, such as grand finals, State of Origin matches, Bledisloe Cups and soccer's World Cup events.

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Furthermore, the NSW capital will not compete on the world stage for events such as the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup, the 2025 British and Irish Lions Tour, the 2027 Rugby World Cup, along with top music events.

The NSW government will be at the mercy of the major football codes, rather than the reverse. When the ARU was forced to decide between the Melbourne Rebels and the Perth-based Western Force to cut from its SANZAAR competition, the Victorian government told the code it would not release any money from its well-funded major events budget if the Rebels were axed.

Faced with no government support for Bledisloe Cup matches and visiting international teams for possibly a decade in Australia's second-biggest city, the ARU yielded to the Victorian government.

If, however, the NSW government reneges on its two stadia rebuild, the NRL will withdraw from the agreement to stage the next 25 grand finals in Sydney. With former Queensland premier Peter Beattie expected to replace John Grant as chair of the ARL Commission in February, NRL grand finals will be shopped around the country, with Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium a likely venue. The Queensland government has become more aggressive in the past five years bidding for events.

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NSW has already lost to Queensland the status as dominant rugby league state, being beaten on most indices of success. The trend will continue unless fans of the Eels, Bulldogs, Wests Tigers and Rabbitohs fill modern rectangular stadiums, allowing these clubs to spend gate receipts on junior development.

Perth, with a new stadium and minus an elite rugby union tenant, will also join the bidding race. Western Australia is in the process of spending over $1 billion on a new sporting precinct.

Sydney has been under threat for more than a decade from Melbourne's easily accessible infrastructure, centring on the 100,000-seat MCG and justifying its self-proclaimed status as the sporting capital of the known universe.

As Destinations NSW chair John Hartigan says, "Sydney's position as the gateway to Australia is under threat from the twofold restrictions imposed by the limitations of Sydney airport [a curfew and shortage of slots] and the lack of facilities to attract world class events."

Hartigan points out that it will take 10 to 12 years to build a second airport at Badgerys Creek and the difficulties of attracting events to the city will compound in that time, should the two stadia not be built.

Tourism has moved from a tier-two revenue earner to tier-one status in Australia, particularly with the decline in mining.

Tourism is worth $33.2 billion a year to the NSW economy and it supports 164,000 jobs and more than 96,000 businesses in NSW rely on the sector.

Here we go again: ANZ Stadium in Homebush while still being built for the 2000 Games. Photo: Peter Morris PMZ

ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium, even in their current, inadequate states, host 200 major men's and women's fixtures across five codes every year and both venues attract 3.5 million people per year to major events and a total 17 million precinct visitors.  

Allianz and ANZ, inject more than $1 billion into the NSW economy every year, meaning the initial $2 billion government investment is repaid in two years. If the state government doesn't invest in these facilities, it puts at risk the supply of critical revenue to NSW that funds schools and hospitals, as well as the jobs of one in 23 people who rely on the events sector.

NSW Sports Minister Stuart Ayres has pointed out the $2 billion stadia rebuild is a mere 1 per cent of the $200 billion the state government will invest in health and education over the period ANZ and Allianz are being rebuilt.

In other words, the 30-year investment in new stadiums is critical, not only for the long-term success of the visitor economy, but it helps fund health and education services all over the state.

Political football has already resulted in two key infrastructure projects in Australia – Melbourne's East-West Link and Perth's Freight Link – being cancelled because of electoral backlash. Transport experts say both will inevitably be built at a massively higher cost.

Kicking a hard decision down the road, like the NSW government's investment in the two stadia, only hurts the economy in the long run.

NSW must build stadiums or be left at the mercy of football codes

The reaction of Premier Gladys Berejiklian to the stadium protests quite stuns me. She is a fine woman, who I have known personally for 25 years, and for my money has been a great minister, and good Premier ... right up until the issue of the stadiums came up.

See, while you were out, it was announced that on top of having knocked down Parramatta Stadium to build a bigger one, her government is also going to knock down both the Olympic Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadiums. All up – while so many publicly funded sectors of the community are crying out for succour – three fine, working stadiums, all within coo-ee of each other in Sydney, are to be knocked down, and rebuilt for around $3 billion.

I wrote a piece 10 days ago, and started a petition against it saying the bleeding obvious: there is wasteful extravagance, there is ludicrous extravagance, and then there is #StadiumSplurge. And the NSW public overwhelming feels the same, as witness talkback, letters to the editor, and a stunning 140,000 people signing the petition at last count. (As a measure, when I did a similar petition, against the Tom Waterhouse gambling ads extravaganza on the league broadcasts, we got 20,000 signatures over six weeks – and even that helped impress the government enough that the policy was changed.)

Back to the Premier's response to the outcry. She has, reportedly, decided to stay the course, telling the Tele, "It is easier not to do anything, and not to build anything. But you can't make decisions thinking about being a premier for this year and next year."

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Her basic theme is the economic benefits of the exercise, consistent with her previous contention that the next two stadiums must be done, as they will generate about $1 billion in revenue annually.

"So if you actually take that assumption over two years," she has said, "we're paying back their cost."

Premier Berejiklian? You cannot be serious. I have seen correspondence from your parliamentary colleagues making that claim to outraged constituents, but the fact that you make it, is simply gobsmacking.

To begin with, the operative number is not what the new stadiums will generate in profits – it is the difference between what the current stadiums are generating now, and what the new stadiums will generate when completed. To be remotely justifiable, those extra profits would have to pay back the extra $2 billion, yes?

And you are seriously maintaining that will be done in two years?

For your numbers to stack up, you need on average an extra 100,000 people a week, every week, to be turning up to those stadiums, and spending an extra $200 a week, all of which goes into the coffers of the NSW government. Can that possibly be your serious contention?

If so, please release the figures. Show us the estimates! And please explain where these 100,000 extra people are coming from, at a time when – here are some numbers of my own – the NRL crowds at the Olympic Stadium, this last season, were at an average of 14,410 in the venue that now holds 83,500 seat venue. Ditto, the SFS, where average NRL crowds were just a smidgen under 14,000.

The needs of NRL are often cited as why we need the new stadiums, and all the focus is on the Grand Finals, and the possibility that instead of taking those finals to the nation's biggest market, of Sydney, they'll take them to the third-biggest market, Brissie. (Doesn't sound likely to me, but still.)

Either way, grand finals are one thing, but in the meat and potatoes of the regular season the average NRL crowds are under 15,000. So nowis the time to build three new stadiums, for $3 billion?

Here we go again: ANZ Stadium in Homebush while still being built for the 2000 Games. Photo: Peter Morris PMZ

I repeat, we surely need to see your numbers to justify it. And while you're at it, if the numbers are actually so great, please explain how, as reported in The Australian there is a "cabinet minute pointing out that the benefit-cost ratio for the projects was well under 1, meaning they would not generate more money than their cost to the state's economy."

If the numbers are genuinely so strong, Premier, why does that same report in the Oz note that both your Treasurer and your Finance Minister are against it, in the company of seven Cabinet Ministers, to go with more and more of the back-bench who are now perilously close to open revolt? And if all is hunky-dory, why are some of those same Cabinet Ministers clearly leaking against your government? I repeat: you can build those three stadiums again for $3 billion, or you can win another term. But you cannot do both. And your successor as leader will be the one who stands up most strongly against this madness.

Unless, of course, and we all hope so, you listen to the public yourself and stop this.

In the arts, as in sport

Not that you care, but I also like Tony Shepherd, the Chair of the SCG Trust, and know him reasonably well. A good operator, honest, and well connected, he is behind many major works including the Harbour Tunnel, and among other things is the Chair of the Western Sydney Giants. He knows how to get things done, and my only query is, who must pay for it? Here, for example, were his words at the launch of the plans for Rooty Hill RSL Club Performing Arts Centre, a fortnight ago.

"This is a magnificent performing arts centre," he said, "which will excite and draw people from Western Sydney and beyond. It is being built without a cent from the taxpayer and is providing the community with a facility it desperately wants and needs," Mr Shepherd said. "As the former chairman of the National Commission of Audit, [that] there's not a cent of government money in there makes me really happy. Truly happy."

Fair enough. But here's the question, Tony.

If it makes you happy that taxpayer didn't have to kick in a cent, for a useful and necessary arts centre, and that's one of your key arbiters of personal satisfaction, how can you be in such strong support of knocking down the relatively popular, and modern, Sydney Football Stadium, for a lazy 800 million dollars of taxpayer money? All when, just 18 months ago, the Baird government deemed that an entirely unnecessary exercise?

What am I missing?

Premier Berejiklian's Sydney stadium math doesn't stack up