ARLC Chairman Peter V'Landys AM says he's disappointed by the actions of the New South Wales government and premier Dominic Perrottet over their reversal of suburban stadium funding plans.
V'landys appeared on The Today Show on Thursday morning demanding answers from the government over the decision to withhold funding, which could result in the 2022 Telstra Premiership Grand Final being moved away from New South Wales.
"We have an agreement [in place] since 2017 [and] we've been very patient with them," V'Landys said of the New South Wales government.
"The money is set aside to be spent.
"There's billions of dollars in infrastructure funds available to him. We're only talking $300 million that's left to be done — and that's available to the government.
"We've compromised [already]," he said.
"There was supposed to be $800 million spent but because of his budget pressures, we negotiated it down to $600 [million]. They went to an election with this $800 million promise; the opposition at the time were against it [but] they went to an election and won an election on spending this money on sporting infrastructure which is very important for the state of New South Wales."
V'Landys was highly critical of the timing by Perrottet to announce the priority for funding for flood victims over investment into new stadiums.
"He's spinning it," he said. "He's using human tragedy to get himself and weasel himself out of an agreement. So to us, this excuse is the hardest thing for us to accept because this is the fourth excuse he's used.
"He gave me his word, we trusted him. He didn't want to make an announcement because of other political issues.
We waited and waited patiently and then we were just left at the door.
ARLC Chairman Peter V'Landys AM
"He always had a commitment — he shook my hand and we had an agreement. We agreed when it should be announced and he hasn't come through with it.
"That's disappointing.
"It's all about integrity," V'Landys added. "How can anyone do an agreement with the state of New South Wales, not knowing if that agreement will be honoured? I stress, they've got the money and can do it — we just can't understand why they're doing this."
With a venue for the 2022 Telstra Premiership still unconfirmed, V'Landys said options would be looked at to potentially move the game away from New South Wales, whilst also highlighting his desire to keep the game in the state.
"We can't punish the people of New South Wales because of the [lack of] integrity of the New South Wales government," he said.
"They've had two very hard years — we haven't played the Grand Final here last year or the State of Origin — and the last thing we want to do is punish them.
V'Landys said a decision on where the 2022 Telstra Premiership Grand Final would be played would likely be made over the weekend or on Monday at the latest because of the necessity to have ticketing options on sale for the public.
The 2022 Telstra Premiership Grand Final will be played on October 2.
