What's the best way to spend tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars in the near future? What should be the ACT government's priority, when it looks over its shopping list of infrastructure projects?

In the mix are the stadium, a convention centre, aquatic centre, public hospital and the city to the lake plan which involves the expensive lowering of Parkes Way.

Easy access to Brumbies games on television is one problem with drawing spectators, and one a new stadium is not guaranteed to fix.

Almost $5 million has been spent on Canberra Stadium over the past five years to keep the venue up to industry standard. So is this the right time to bite the bullet on the planned $300 million roofed stadium, proposed to be built by the ACT government on the site of the Civic pool by 2020?

Already the government has a taskforce planning the light rail from Gungahlin to Civic, a project born of the marriage of convenience between Labor and Greens.

Will that spending suck up all the ACT's limited revenue and doom plans for a new stadium or convention centre? The business community hopes the answer is no.

In fact there is rare unanimity in this town that the next cab off the rank should be a new convention centre.

Protagonists point to the pulling power of convention centres and how other cities are recognising this factor and spending big to harness the potential.

The Sydney convention centre is closed for several years as a $1 billion rebuild occurs. Clearly the backers are predicting a good return on this handsome investment.

Brisbane and Melbourne have spent liberally, too. The result? The global G20 summit will be held in Brisbane, drawing thousands of delegates, officials and media, and bringing international recognition and kudos.

It was not surprising Canberra was sidelined for this once in a blue moon event, given the lack of hotels here, but more regretful is the national capital being shunned for successive Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.

At the conclusion of CHOGM in Edinburgh in 1997, John Howard invited leaders to meet in Canberra in 2001 as part of Australia's centenary of celebrations. In December 1999 he said the summit would be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in October 2001, with the leaders' retreat at Coolum. After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the meeting was postponed and later held entirely at the Hyatt Regency Coolum resort.

Then, when Australia was chosen to be the only country to host the Commonwealth leaders' summit three times, the Labor federal government decreed the 2011 event would be held in Perth.

Should Canberra, the nation's capital, aspire to host such an international event? Clearly the answer lies in funding - by the federal and ACT governments, as well as the private sector.

A new convention centre - and new hotels - fall into a classic cart-and-horse argument. You can't have one without the other one, but which to build first?

One way to prise money out of the federal government for a convention centre would be to invite them to invest in another national cultural institution. Think National Portrait Gallery or National Museum.

That's the thinking behind the Australia Forum, the convention centre being promoted strongly by the Canberra Business Council.

The council wanted it to be a standout building on Lake Burley Griffin, but the ACT government rejected that idea, preferring to keep the site in West Basin for other development, such as an aquatic centre and high-end apartments.

Instead, the project is earmarked for the car park between Vernon Circle and London Circuit, to the south of the Legislative Assembly.

''Our view is that the Australia Forum should be the number one capital project [for the ACT],'' council CEO Chris Faulks says.

''We are absolutely clear that the project that will drive jobs and growth the most is the Australia Forum convention centre. That's because it gives a state-of-the-art facility for people coming on direct flights for conferences.

''It enables us to leverage off our competitive advantages in education and our cultural facilities and the fact that we're the seat of government, to hold national and international conferences of a high-calibre, around knowledge, ideas and big conversations, which is really where the council and I think the government as well, would like to position Canberra.''

Faulks acknowledges light rail is the No.1 item on the Labor-Greens agreement. ''There is also a line in the parliamentary agreement which indicates the Australia Forum will be investment-ready by 2016 so they've made a commitment … our advice is that it means it is at a point where it could go to tender,'' she says.

Would it be large enough to host a G20 summit?

''I think there is a reality check here in a sense that there are one in 10 year conferences that probably won't be held in Canberra for the time being, simply because they are so large and they only occur rarely,'' Faulks says. ''There is no point in building something that is a white elephant for the nine years and then only used once so the focus of the business case for the Australia Forum was on maximum usage and maximum return.

''The market in Canberra is for conferences of around 300 to 500 people and they are usually hosted by associations or related to work of government and national institutions.

''We know that most delegates that come to a conference spend about $600 per day on accommodation and meals and of that, only 10¢ in the dollar goes to the convention centre while 90¢ in the dollar goes into the economy of the city where the conferences is held. That is almost entirely money coming from outside of Canberra and injected into our economy at a time when it is critical that the ACT diversify its economy away from an over-reliance on land sales and property taxes and public servants.''

Faulks points to other cities recognising the drawing power of a large convention centre. ''What we struggle with is, if you look at Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Darwin - all of them have taken pretty strong decisions to expand or rebuild their convention centres,'' she says.

''If you talk to them they'll tell you it's because of the injection of revenue into their economy, not necessarily into the convention centre but into the economy generally.

''They know convention centres have an incredible role in positioning a city nationally and internationally and bringing visitors to the city who spend money.''

The Australia Forum would be large enough to run several conferences concurrently. The council proposes it be funded by the federal and ACT governments and the private sector. It is hoped the national branding of the project will attract federal support.

''I think it's fair to say they [federal government] have given us a very good hearing and they're interested,'' Faulks says. ''They recognise this is the one project the private sector in Canberra unanimously support as the No.1 priority because we see it as a way to diversify our economy, to leverage off our advantages as a tourist destination and to create jobs.''

Stephen Wood, manager of the National Convention Centre in Civic, said an advantage of the centre was allowing a conference to take over the entire floor space.

''You gain a real sense of ownership of the whole facility, all of our resources are 100 per cent dedicated to the event but that in itself does limit the scope of business that can come to Canberra in the business tourism sector,'' he says. ''I feel there is certainly opportunity for more growth through a new and larger facility and probably the key being being a larger facility.

''Primarily what a new facility could allow is to hold multiple large conferences which is certainly what you can achieve in Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane and some of the larger convention centres.''

Wood says Canberra has an excellent reputation for hosting successful business events.

''I think the national importance of Canberra is a really key element to that and I think it would be great for a future convention centre in Canberra to reflect that national position that Canberra holds.''

Hotel capacity is an important element in attracting interstate business, he says. ''I think globally there is a strong acceptance that convention centres drive economic activity, both the direct spend from attendees but also, and probably even more important, the benefits of the actual outcomes of the meetings that take place there.

''I certainly have confidence that Canberra will deliver on a successful new facility. If that does eventuate I think there will be the demand there, and continued growth between now and then is very important for that success as well.''

Catherine Carter, executive director of the Property Council, says despite the tight economic times, the ACT government, industry and the community are talking about a vision for Canberra: ''The sort of Canberra that we want to live in now and the sort of Canberra that we aspire to in the future,.''

She does not want to pick winners but wants all sections of the community to be involved in a conversation about the city's aspirations and long-term vision.

''I think that's the way to find resolution about which of these projects ought to be delivered in what sort of priority,'' she says.

''A genuine community forum similar to what was done in recent years in Melbourne, where they got all kinds of people to come along.

''I think you'll find if something like that happens, the things people have in common will be far greater than the issues that divide people.

''The Property Council supports the Canberra Business Council and agrees that the nation's capital should have a convention centre befitting the place that we have in this country as the nation's capital.

''The Property Council recognises that Capital Metro is an ACT government priority and will work with the ACT government to get the best outcome out of that project.

''But as to the question of what is the order in which other projects should be rolled out and delivered, I think there are other questions to be answered beforehand.

''There are some terrific plans there but, at the moment, we have double-digit commercial office vacancy rates with a big concentration of vacant stock in Civic.

''What we should be doing in the first instance is addressing what to do with some of those areas in Civic that are languishing.

''As part of the city plan, the ACT government identified that some work needs to be done by the government together with industry to find policies and potentially incentives to enable owners of existing stock either to refurbish to attract new tenants or convert it to other uses.''

ACT Treasurer Andrew Barr says the sequencing of projects is contingent on finding funding partners, including the private sector and the federal government.

''The projects are simply too large for the ACT government to take on on our own,'' he says.

The ACT government is going into its first public-private partnership for the new Supreme Court building and is considering doing the same for other major projects.

''It is clear that investment partners will be necessary to see the delivery of these projects in the next decade,'' he says. ''If they simply have to wait their turn within the government's available capital budget then the timeframe for delivery will be considerably longer, so the potential to accelerate their delivery really lies in the capacity to draw in investment partners.''

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey recently told states and territories he was not interested in funding sports stadiums, leaving the ACT to look for a private sector investment partner.

''I think the longer term challenge for Canberra is going to be attracting national and international level investment interest,'' Barr says.

''There is simply not enough capital within the city of 400,000 people to finance all our infrastructure needs into the future so we will be needing external partners.''