Former Premier Colin Barnett was pivotal in the development of Optus Stadium, saying he knew Subiaco would've been the wrong choice for the stadiums location.

"I thought whatever we do it has to have a long term future - I got a phone call from the planning department, someone had pulled out a pencil and a ruler and said if you close the Burswood golf course there is plenty of room to build there, so we moved on that very quickly," Mr Barnett told 6PR Mornings.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.