Former Wallaby and independent Senate candidate David Pocock has expressed dismay at the plight of the homeless Canberra Capitals and renewed calls for more long-term ACT infrastructure solutions.
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On Sunday the Capitals were scheduled to play a must-win WNBL finals game against Perth in front of a modest crowd at Tuggeranong, due to limited access to appropriate sports venues in Canberra.
Even though the game was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak, it has not made the ACT stadium fiasco go away.
"The Capitals, one of our most successful sporting teams, period, don't have a decent home. It's not good enough," Pocock said.
The 33-year-old said the victims of the ongoing venue debacle in the ACT go beyond the professional sporting ranks, with a negative trickle-down effect hurting every level of community sport.
"Sport plays such an important role in our communities, particularly at the grassroots level, getting kids involved. A place where kids can be part of a community, learn skills, and challenge themselves physically," he said. "We need to be ... making sure that the sporting infrastructure is there at the community level, and then people in the community can actually go and watch their sports teams, like the UC Capitals, playing at a sold-out, big venue in the finals."
Pocock's criticism comes after Liberal senator Zed Seselja revealed he'd been lobbying since last May for an upgrade to Viking Park in Wanniassa which would increase its capacity to 10,000. Though it is yet to be approved by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the move was welcomed by Pocock, who floated a similar move.
"The week before I'd suggested that would be a decent interim plan, while we actually built a fit-for-purpose, world-class facility," Pocock said.
"We need longer-term thinking than every election cycle, just patching up existing infrastructure. We have to be actually planning over the next 10 years and ask where do we want Canberra to go?"
Pocock suggested the Liberal senator was feeling the heat from his campaign.
"Well, we're certainly hearing more from him," Pocock said. "As a Canberran, I want our federal politicians to be advocating for us and to be working every day, not just come elections, trying to show that they care."
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Pocock made clear his desire to have a world-class convention centre and stadium complex in Civic, a larger project than anything currently planned for the capital.
"When you look at our convention centre and stadiums, they're just not up to scratch," Pocock said.
"They were good in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Times have moved on. We're the nation's capital, we need to have a convention centre that can host major events, and we need to be able to bring the best of the world here to Canberra.
"There's huge economic benefits for that, but there's also benefits in terms of the knowledge economy - actually being able to attract the brightest minds.
"And when it comes to sport and entertainment, the night before I announced that I'd be backing a conference centre and stadium plan for Canberra, the Foo Fighters played in Geelong and 25,000 people got to watch them. Our biggest music venue holds 1800.
"We're missing out, and we can change that."
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