'I'm not giving up': Pocock still keen on Civic stadium as Barr sets AIS meeting for Bruce plans

The Canberra Times can reveal ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr will meet with commission boss Kieren Perkins to discuss a potential partnership on the 64 hectares at Bruce.

Barr dropped the hammer on his Civic stadium vision this week, saying land constraints made it almost impossible to build a venue in the city even if the government paid $140 million to move Parkes Way.

Pocock, who has championed the Civic project since winning election this year, is refusing to give up on city location despite Barr's impending meeting with Perkins.

"Like a lot of people across the community, I am pretty disappointed at the prospect of not seeing a new stadium and convention centre built in the city, but I'm not giving up," Pocock said.

"Everywhere you look around our city - around the nation's capital - you see a story of neglect, especially in terms of federal government funding.

"If we want to talk about dead space, the last thing our city needs is a version of the Homebush out at Bruce. People want an experience."

Barr, however, has stepped away from the plan he has been pursuing for more than a decade to focus on redeveloping Bruce.

One of the main reasons was the $200 million cost of moving Parkes Way and relocating the pool on top of the $500-600 million stadium build.

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"We would have had to absorb the costs [of moving Parkes Way]," Barr said. "There's very little Commonwealth interest in stadiums."

Canberra's most likely option of getting a new stadium, or at least a rebuilt one, is working with the commission to finalise the future of the AIS.

The commission is keen to keep the AIS in Canberra, but its vision is to downsize and consolidate into a high-performance hub while selling infrastructure assets like Canberra Stadium and the AIS Arena, which are not considered "fit for purpose".

Olympic legend Perkins has taken the commission reins and also oversees the AIS operations.

"They are well advanced in their thinking of what they want to do with the AIS precinct," Barr said.

"One thing is abundantly clear: there's a massive amount of surplus land there ... We are interested in sitting down with them, understanding their redevelopment ideas and then how we can build a precinct around their redevelopment plans."

ACT Sport Minister Yvette Berry backed the decision to shift the focus away from Civic and on to the AIS plans.

"We need to have these conversations with the sports commission and with the new federal Labor government about what that could look like, but I reckon there's some great possibilities for that area as a sports precinct, in hospitality and accommodation," Berry said.

"There's opportunities. Everybody in Canberra wants a new stadium, we all agree. When and where is the thing everybody wants to know. Both Andrew and I have written to Kieren, the new CEO, and Andrew's having a meeting with him hopefully in the next couple of weeks."

Pocock said the government needed an "ambitious vision" for Canberra.

"This is about more than just Brumbies or Raiders games, it's about attracting new teams, creating a space for major music concerts and also investing in a new convention space for business events," he said.

"I appreciate there are pressures on the budget but I also know there are plenty of private sector investors who will pitch in to help fund this if we get the setting right.

"We've seen new venues in places like Townsville and Geelong totally revitalise the town and local economy. That's what I want for Canberra."

Barr, who was at the federal government's jobs summit on Thursday, said the ACT would declare the AIS project an "urban renewal precinct and undertake the same sort of activity as the Kingston Foreshore and West Basin."

"There are concepts we developed 13 years ago ... it's not as if there's been no thinking [about Bruce].

"Bruce was always the least encumbered, it's already there and there's a lot of land. It's weaknesses at the moment are there's nothing else out there.

"Unfortunately, the cost of the perfect outcome [in Civic] is just too high. So we go with a very good outcome."

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