Now that it’s official, we all need to process the grief that will follow the demise of the Yerriyong motorsports complex. It’s time to let the anger subside and confront what actually went wrong.
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It’s instructive to hear it, as the Register has, from Motorcycle NSW’s perspective. A philosophical chief executive officer David Cooke told us on Thursday the organisation had been through the seven stages of grieving and had accepted the plan was a non starter.
A couple of weeks ago, when explaining he thought the track had little chance of succeeding, he said he bore no ill will towards Alan Stephenson, the orchid specialist who discovered the colony of vulnerable plants which sounded the death knell of the project.
Few would argue such a facility would be great for the Shoalhaven. There would have been, it’s assumed, significant economic benefit. The trouble was always the location.
Alarm bells were sounded early in the piece, with councillors who had initially backed the concept becoming concerned the site had too many environmental constraints to be viable. Their objections were drowned out by what appears to have been case of collective confirmation bias.
Decision-makers so badly wanted the track to go ahead, they seem to have deluded themselves into believing major obstacles would be easily overcome.
When Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis secured $9.75 million in a federal grant money for the unapproved project, she, too, dismissed the constraints on the site. There were just a couple of boxes to be ticked, she said.
Even after Motorcycling NSW announced its intention to pull out of the project, Mrs Sudmalis doggedly tried to revive it, for which she was praised by supporters of the proposal.
Unfortunately, however, it was to no avail. Her state parliamentary colleagues tried to tell her they couldn’t intervene in the state planning process. Motorcycling NSW agreed it would be dangerous ground for Shelley Hancock and Gareth to traverse.
If anything, by keeping the lost cause going, Mrs Sudmalis fuelled expectations that couldn’t be met – a dangerous course for politicians.
The big lesson? Clear-headed objectivity is vital when embarking on a big project. No matter how appealing the plan, the pitfalls must be weighed up with ruthless clarity. Do that and no one is left with egg on their face.
