The NSW government should hold off refurbishing ANZ Stadium in Sydney's west until the rebuild of Allianz Stadium in the city is completed, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

The government’s plan to significantly upgrade ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park and knock down and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park – at a cost of around $1.5 billion – has been controversial due to the hefty price tag.

Now, a joint parliamentary inquiry has recommended the government not go ahead with the redevelopment of ANZ until the new stadium at Moore Park is built.

Committee chair Robert Brown says there’s no harm in delaying the rebuild considering the business case for ANZ is not expected to be finished until 2019.

“By this time, works at Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz) will have commenced and lessons may be learnt during the rollout that could inform the works at Stadium Australia (ANZ),” he said in a statement on Thursday.

“The government’s failure to prioritise the release of business cases or other quality assurance processes in support of the stadia strategy has understandably led many in the community to question the government’s motives in prioritising stadia and the claimed benefits that superior stadia will deliver to NSW.”

The committee – on which government MPs were outnumbered by Labor, the Greens and Shooters members – found the projects didn’t meet the coalition’s own infrastructure spending criteria and recommended an immediate independent audit of the business cases for the stadia.

“On the evidence received, the committee has found that the significant safety and security concerns at the Sydney Football Stadium require immediate attention and support the case to proceed with the demolition,” Mr Brown said.

Construction on ANZ is scheduled to start in late 2019 and be completed by mid-2021.

Work on Allianz Stadium is expected to commence in late 2018 and be finished by early 2022.

By Hannah Higgins