ACT Independent Senate candidate David Pocock yesterday called for a new Canberra convention centre and stadium precinct on the site of Civic pool joint funded by the Federal and Territory governments.
“A new shared Stadium and Convention Centre Precinct on the site of the old Civic pool with strong connections to Commonwealth Park will provide a premiere sporting and conference experience for locals and visitors,” he declared.
“It will revitalise a CBD hit hard by the pandemic and re-orient the city, so it no longer has its back towards one of its best assets, Lake Burley Griffin.”
Lamenting a lack of federal infrastructure funding directed to Canberra, Mr Pocock said the nation’s capital needs its “fair share of funding” after years of neglect due to it being a “so-called safe seat”.
“We need stronger collaboration between the Territory and Australian Governments and a long-term plan to start catching up,” he said.
In the 2021-22 financial year, the ACT received a share of $166.5 million out of the Commonwealth’s $15.2 billion in infrastructure, the majority of which was Light Rail Stage 2 funding.
Of the Commonwealth’s overall $110 billion federal infrastructure pipeline, the ACT’s share is around $1.2 billion, or just over one per cent: “an unacceptably tiny fraction”.
“No matter who wins government at the next federal election, I will be up there fighting to square the ledger on what has been a massive under-investment over decades,” Mr Pocock said.
Declaring the National Convention Centre in Canberra “the most dated in the country”, having been constructed in 1989 and receiving barely a refurbishment in the meantime, Mr Pocock said Canberra’s entire events industry and business sector suffers from the lack of adequate facilities.
“Before COVID-19, the Convention Centre was missing out on upwards of $20 million in bookings per year due to capacity restraints,” he said.
“The business events industry in the ACT supported around 7,200 jobs, directly contributing $1.12 billion to the economy with an additional value add of $539 million.
“We can’t host a lunch for more than 1,000 people, our indoor entertainment capacity maxes out at 1,800 and we have nothing approaching the sort of world-class facilities needed to attract major sporting, business and cultural events.”
He also said the now tired Canberra Stadium at Bruce has reached the end of its life and is “no longer fit for purpose”.
“It is incapable of hosting major sporting events and is a poor home for Canberra’s beloved Raiders and Brumbies,” he said.
Mr Pocock said the site of Canberra Stadium at Bruce could be leveraged for “much needed infill housing”, while Viking Park in Tuggeranong could be upgraded as a temporary home while a new stadium is built.
“The longer this project is delayed, the more it will cost to deliver and the higher the rising tally of lost opportunities will be.”
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