Moore Park Golf Course has always been more than turf and tees. It is one of Sydney\u2019s busiest public golf venues, a lifeline for thousands of everyday players, a training ground for juniors, and a rare slice of open sporting space in the heart of the city. Yet the Minns Government and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore appear determined to cut it in half, even as new documents make their push look reckless, expensive, and built on political spin rather than facts.<\/p>\n
RELATED: Draft plans revealed for the $50m halving of Sydney\u2019s Moore Park Golf Course<\/a><\/p>\n A report the government tried to keep hidden, uncovered by\u00a0The Daily Telegraph,<\/a> shows the state was warned that carving up Moore Park could cost taxpayers almost $250 million and carry what consultants described as \u201csignificant financial risk\u201d. This stands in stark contrast to Premier Chris Minns\u2019 repeated claims that his plan to slash the course to nine holes can be delivered for just $50 million.<\/p>\n The contrast is not a rounding error. It is a $200 million gap, and it goes to the heart of a debate where the biggest losers are the golfers \u2013\u00a0young and old \u2013 who rely on Moore Park and the public who will shoulder the cost of bad policy.<\/p>\n A report buried, not broken<\/p>\n The business case, delivered in February and involving input from ten consultancy firms, examined four realistic ways forward for Moore Park. None cost less than $150 million, according to the Telegraph report. The preferred option priced the overhaul at $245.8 million, including an operational shortfall of $23 million over an eight-year rollout.<\/p>\n Yet that preferred option never included the stripped back $50 million vision Minns now promotes. That bargain figure appears nowhere in the document. It was not modelled. It was not costed. It was not even entertained.<\/p>\n RELATED: NSW Government announced plans to halve Moore Park before financial impacts were finalised<\/a><\/p>\n Instead, the report states openly that underinvestment in the so called new park would likely deter visitation and risk failure. It warned that any attempt to deliver a low budget version would undermine the entire project.<\/p>\n Despite this, the Minns Government tried for months to block the report from public release, citing cabinet in confidence. The Upper House eventually forced its hand. Only then did the public see the truth: the government had been asking taxpayers to trust a price tag that its own consultants never tested and never endorsed.<\/p>\n Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope told The Daily Telegraph that the public had been misled. Opposition planning spokesman Scott Farlow said the government knew all along that the option delivering the greatest benefit was leaving Moore Park Golf Course untouched.<\/p>\n They are not wrong. The business case makes it clear. None of the proposed redevelopment options outperformed the existing operation, which brings in strong financial returns for Greater Sydney Parklands without requiring major capital investment. Moore Park currently generates around $7.2 million annually from golf activities alone. Cutting it in half not only guts that revenue stream but also jeopardises the financial sustainability of the entire parklands authority.<\/p>\n The risk is spelled out plainly in the report: \u201cAs the responsible entity for the stewardship and management of the Moore Park Golf Club and broader Centennial Parklands, this risk is significant with very serious consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE: NSW Government used \u2018inflated\u2019 figures to justify halving Moore Park Golf Course<\/a><\/p>\n A solution worse than the problem<\/p>\n Minns argues that Sydney\u2019s growing population needs more green space. Few disagree. More open space is a good thing. The problem is the choice of target. Moore Park already provides green space. It is used heavily. It is inclusive. It is open to the public seven days a week. It is one of the most accessible courses in Australia, both in cost and location.<\/p>\n Destroying half of it to remake a park that already exists, with far less economic return, is the definition of wasteful.<\/p>\n The report\u2019s preferred plan would have created 18 hectares of recreational space, including playgrounds, fitness stations, a BMX circuit, multipurpose courts, a nature fitness course, a discovery trail, and community greens. It also would have rebuilt the golf offering around a 12-hole layout, a 50 percent expansion of the driving range to 90 bays, and an 18-hole mini golf facility.<\/p>\n Even that plan was expensive and risky. But at least it was costed.<\/p>\n The Minns Government plan, now on public exhibition, removes the BMX and pump track, chops the course to nine holes instead of twelve, keeps the mini golf, expands the driving range, and promises 20 hectares of new parkland. Somehow this version is supposed to cost $50 million.<\/p>\n The problem is simple. It cannot. Not when the original business case showed that even the most modest version of the project would cost triple that number.<\/p>\n