The ACT government is about to embark on an ''investment roadshow'' to drum up support for expensive projects needed to bolster the local economy against the impact of cuts to the federal public service.
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While the roadshow will tour Australia, it will have a big hit-out in Singapore in June at the opening of a new stadium, the Singapore Sports Hub, where the Brumbies will play in the inaugural World Club 10s tournament.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to fulfil the ACT's shopping list of projects, including light rail, a roofed stadium, convention centre, aquatic centre and the city-to-the-lake project which includes the expensive lowering of Parkes Way.
However ACT Treasurer Andrew Barr said it was time for the ACT to grow up as a city and realise the days of largesse from any federal government were over.
''The Commonwealth isn't going to do it all for us - they did for the first 75 years and they have been gradually withdrawing their level of investment in the national capital regardless of which party has been in power,'' he said.
''So we can't rely on them forever.
''We always welcome Commonwealth government investment and we have seen it in recent times under both Labor and Liberal governments, be it Majura Parkway or Constitution Avenue or the Arboretum or the National Museum or the National Portrait Gallery.
''So there have been investments in Canberra but they're not going to be as large or as frequent as they were in our first century.''
The ACT investment roadshow will include domestic audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and it will also head to Hong Kong.
Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has been in China this week spruiking the benefits of investing in the city-to-the-lake project and light rail.
Mr Barr said the ACT government wanted to attract national and international investment into Canberra.
''We will require this level of investment in order to meet our longer-term infrastructure needs but in the short to medium term, clearly we anticipate a contraction in the level of Commonwealth government activity in the ACT,'' he said.
''We will continue to work with local investors but by and large, those sorts of projects are in the millions or tens of millions, but when you're talking larger-scale projects then you certainly do need national and international level investment partners.''
Mr Barr has examined how other countries have built major stadiums, including through public-private partnerships.
''Singapore has a current example of a PPP that will in fact be opened in June at the same time that I'll be there,'' he said.
With Singapore Airlines showing most interest in operating direct international flights to Canberra, Mr Barr is keen to use his visit in June to push the case for Canberra's curfew-free airport.
''I'm hopeful that we will receive a positive audience,'' he said
It was up to Singapore Airlines to make decisions, such as re-aligning flights out of Adelaide or Sydney to Canberra, he said.
