The ACT Government has announced it will fund three “once-in-fifty-year” infrastructure projects – Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), a new Convention Centre Precinct, and the Bruce Sports, Health and Education Precinct – through the mid-year Budget Review, but the Canberra Liberals claim these are rehashed electoral cycle announcements.

“As Canberra’s population nears half a million people, we are getting on with the job of delivering the once-in-a-generation infrastructure the city will need,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

“The Government’s plan is to deliver projects like a new stadium and a new convention centre as part of broader precincts that will encourage increased economic activity and new jobs by attracting major business conferences and events. These infrastructure projects will define our city’s future, and early planning and consultation will ensure they can support our growing city for decades to come.”

Opposition leader Elizabeth Lee, however, remarked that the ACT Labor government had talked about a stadium since 2009, while former chief minister Jon Stanhope had spoken about the need for a new convention centre in 2008.

“As much as Andrew Barr likes to talk about ‘once-in-a-generation’ city building, what it really is a once-in-an-electoral-cycle that he rehashes over and over again,” Ms Lee said. “This is all about making a splash in the headlines, as opposed to actually delivering, because Andrew Barr’s track record when it comes to big infrastructure projects speaks for itself.”

EPIC

ACT Labor promised at the 2020 election to spend $21 million to build a new 10,000-square-metre indoor venue at EPIC: “the first, purpose-built facility in Canberra that could cater for large multicultural performances and private events such as weddings”.

Now, the government will design the new large multipurpose exhibition hall to accommodate larger exhibitions, gala sit-down dinners for thousands of people, and concurrent big community-based events. The first stage will include new intersections and a new public entrance.

It will also refurbish Fitzroy Pavilion and turn it into a versatile event space which it says will meet the immediate demand for large community and multicultural events in Canberra. $4.6 million will be invested this year.

“The refurbishment of Fitzroy Pavilion is part of the government’s longer-term plan to redevelop EPIC, with the Budget Review also allowing us to continue to progress planning for a new large-scale multipurpose facility on the site,” Mr Barr said.

But the multicultural community and the Canberra Liberals have protested that the refurbishment was not the dedicated venue they expected.

The Parliamentary and Governing Agreement had committed to “construct a large new multicultural events venue at EPIC for cultural performances and available for hire for large private functions, such as weddings”. Last year instead, the government announced that it would refurbish Fitzroy Pavilion to host big community and multicultural events, and complete the construction by the end of 2024.

“When you ask Canberra’s multicultural community, there is no doubt that this is a broken promise from Andrew Barr and the Labor-Greens government,” Ms Lee said.

“What the Labor-Greens government promised in the lead-up to the 2020 election was to copy the Canberra Liberals’ policy in terms of the much-needed space that the multicultural communities have been asking for. And what now is being delivered is certainly not what was promised to the multicultural communities.”

Convention centre

The government announced last year that it would develop a Convention Centre Precinct to replace the 35-year-old National Convention Centre, which is operating at full capacity. The precinct would include new convention facilities and an indoor, 7,500-seat Entertainment Pavilion suitable for live music and major indoor sporting events. This would, the government stated, be a premier destination for business events, support Canberra as a knowledge economy, create jobs in the visitor economy, and enhance Canberra’s night-life.

But Ms Lee criticised the government’s failure to deliver.

“We are the nation’s capital, and there’s no doubt that Canberra could be the home of a lot of conventions and various events that will attract not only tourists and convention-goers from across Australia, but from around the world. We know because the Canberra Convention Bureau and many people in Canberra’s tourism industry have been saying for decades now that Canberra does need convention space to be able to host these world-class events.”

The Chief Minister and the Labor party, which had been “at the helm” for more than 20 years, have been “stringing [the Canberra community and the tourism sector] along”, Ms Lee said.

“They have really done a disservice and shown so much disrespect to [them]…,” she said. “There is no doubt that Canberra needs this space. And what Andrew Barr has been talking about only this week is just once again lip service: two decades along, same talk.”

Sports stadium

Last year, the ACT Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Sports Commission for a $300,000 study into whether to redevelop or replace Canberra Stadium within the Australian Institute of Sport precinct, with a view to building a modern 30,000-seat stadium. The Canberra GIO Stadium, built in 1977, has been called outdated and sub-par.

The government says this year’s funding will support ‘technical due diligence’ (presumably examining and assessing the technical aspects and feasibility of the project) for a new rectangular stadium in Bruce. This will be part of an expanded sports, health and education precinct, linking the AIS precinct, CIT Bruce, University of Canberra and the Northside Hospital.

The Canberra Liberals believe a stadium should be in Civic, Ms Lee said, following the example of other cities that placed their stadia in the middle of the city. That, Ms Lee said, would have broader economic benefits, attract tourists, and make sure Canberra was home to world-class games and events.

“How many trips has [the Chief Minister] been on to look at feasibility studies around the world about the need for a stadium?” Ms Lee asked.

“This is nothing new. This again, now that we are in an election year, is an announcement that has been rehashed and done over and over again by a Chief Minister who clearly has run out of ideas and has failed to deliver on ACT infrastructure milestones.”