ACT senator David Pocock wants a Civic Stadium. Not a re-developed Canberra Stadium. Or a new stadium at EPIC. And he's open to private investors playing a role.
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While the ACT government seems to be backing away from a centrally located stadium, with their preference now to rebuild the 45-year-old Canberra Stadium instead, Pocock will push for a new stadium in the heart of the city.
Pocock told The Canberra Times his preference was for a Civic Stadium and pointed to the way similar projects elsewhere had revamped city centres - giving bars and restaurants a boost before and after games and other events.
He felt a combined Civic Stadium and a new convention centre made the most sense economically and that's what he'll be pushing with both ACT Chief Minster Andrew Barr and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
His declaration comes as rumours swirl Barr's government will now look to rebuild Canberra Stadium in two stages.
But Pocock felt a redeveloped stadium at Bruce would lack the economic benefit due to the lack of businesses, like bars and restaurants, surrounding the stadium.
Pocock's emerged as an important player on the political landscape following his election as one of the ACT's new senators.
He holds the balance of power in the Senate and, with Albanese pledging to bring infrastructure projects back to Canberra after years of neglect under a Coalition government, that makes Pocock's voice an important one.
And a new stadium - and convention centre - was front and centre of Pocock's platform for the election.
He said the ACT government's pet project - extending the light rail to Woden - also supported the case for a Civic Stadium rather than a rebuild at Bruce.
"It doesn't make sense to me as the nation's capital that we don't have a convention centre that can actually host major events or a stadium that can do the same thing - that can have big sporting and music events," Pocock told The Canberra Times.
"It's something I'm keen to keep pushing.
"We're seeing around the country, around the world, that move to having more central convention centres and stadiums. It makes sense to me.
"I understand things are tight when it comes to the budget and the economy, but there's a really sound business case behind the convention centre and I think when you combine the two there's a pretty compelling case to have that investment if we can get private investment involved too.
"If we do build something that does work for sport and big events then you want to use it as much as possible.
"To me it makes sense to have it centrally located, especially with plans for light rail going south."
Pocock pointed to all the money previous federal governments had spent on stadiums around Australia and said it was time Canberra also had something worthy of its status as the capital.
He hasn't spoken to Barr or the federal government since he'd been declared a senator, but would now push to open the dialogue.
Pocock said the longer a decision was delayed, the more a new stadium would cost.
The extra cost of a Civic Stadium seemed to be the main reason behind Barr's shift away from building it, having once spruiked it's economic virtues.
"When it comes to that big infrastructure project my understanding is there is interest from private finance which would potentially take away some of the burden on the territory and federal government," Pocock said.
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"We have a lot more access to facts and figures now and will be doing more consultation and working out how we can push this.
"We know with these big infrastructure projects the costs of building it are going up every year so the longer you leave these things - and there's such a strong case being the nation's capital and just having such old infrastructure when it comes to a convention centre and Bruce Stadium there's a real case for it.
"We're a growing city and we've seen this sort of investment around the country, but just not here."
The Albanese government has promised to reopen AIS Arena after it's sat dormant since the start of the pandemic in a sporting sense.
It needed $15 million in upgrades to allow it to reopen due to health and safety issues.
That meant the Canberra Capitals didn't have a venue big enough to host their finals in the last WNBL season.
Pocock said those upgrades had to happen quickly.
"Work needs to happen as soon as possible and try and get that open as an indoor arena as soon as we can," he said.
"It's pretty embarrassing to have one of your most successful teams not having a home ground to play their games in finals at."
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