0
Paul Lampathakis & Joe Spagnolo From: The Sunday Times January 22, 2011 6:00PM 17 comments
PREMIER Colin Barnett wants to build Perth's long-awaited new stadium at Burswood.
Informed sources said this week Mr Barnett had clearly indicated he "does not want Subiaco".
And while before Christmas he had discussed both Burswood and East Perth as possibilities, Burswood has now firmed as his preferred site.
The sources said Mr Barnett had been emphatic he was "not going to mess around" for long periods with consultants, and a decision would simply be made and announced. But they believed any announcement was still several months away.
"He has been saying he's not going to mess around, he's going to build it at either Burswood or East Perth, but Burswood is his preference," one said. "But he has said he does not want Subiaco, that Subiaco is not a good idea."
A spokeswoman for Mr Barnett, who returns to work tomorrow, said the Premier was on leave and would not be commenting.
But in an interview earlier this month, Mr Barnett told The Sunday Times: "I said the issue would be off the agenda for two years. That two years is up on February 1. I will do what I said, I will now go back to the issue. I will not be making a decision in February but the decision will be made quickly."
Other sources said Mr Barnett was particularly keen on Burswood because the former Labor government had picked Subiaco's Kitchener Park as the site for a new $1 billion outdoor stadium.
"He wants to call the project his own and not be seen as purely giving the go-ahead for a project that was already committed to by Labor," one source said.
But the City of Subiaco is pleading with the Premier not to build a new stadium at Burswood, with council officials saying they would be seeking an urgent meeting with him to state their case.
City of Subiaco chief executive officer Stephen Tindale said Subiaco, "the spiritual home of football", would be devastated if the stadium went elsewhere.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/west...-1225992852943