Free transport is available to and from Raiders and Brumbies games at GIO Stadium, but not for one-off events. Photo: Transport Canberra.
The Chief Minister says we shouldn’t hold our breath for updates on the Bruce Precinct plan, or the associated stadium.
Andrew Barr provided an update during Budget Estimates, stating that there is no financial justification for a brand-new stadium.
“There’s still usable life within Canberra Stadium … the government’s view [is] that the facility is still fit-for-purpose,” he said.
“It’s [got] more than a decade [of life left], but it’s not our asset.”
There is $250,000 in the ACT 2025-26 Budget, as part of the asset renewal program, for upgrades to accessibility features and hospitality resources.
The Commonwealth earlier committed $10 million for planning the wider Bruce precinct where it hopes to build a new stadium.
Mr Barr said conversations were continuing with the Commonwealth over its vision for the Bruce Precinct, including for non-sporting infrastructure such as accommodation, retail and education.
It’s hoped the private sector could be brought on board for commercial infrastructure, but the Chief Minister was firm in his expectation of where the money for sports infrastructure in the Bruce Precinct would come from.
“I would expect the Commonwealth would contribute 100 per cent of funding,” he said.
“I would have been a little peeved if we’d been expected to pay for the AIS Master Plan.”
Mr Barr said work was wrapping up on identifying which land could and could not be considered for a new stadium, but any previous reporting that a location was imminent contained a “degree of license”.
It has been recognised that the stadium’s current site could host the venue, but redevelopment would put the current structure out of commission.
“But that would remain, in theory, a feasible option,” Mr Barr said.
Issues around buses to and from the stadium were also raised.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury asked why buses weren’t given priority access to the stadium in an attempt to encourage more people to use public transport.
Venues Canberra executive branch manager Matthew Elkins said this wasn’t under consideration, as one lane from the Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE) had to be available for egress, and the other two lanes were for traffic.
“If we made one of those lanes priority for buses, the buses would still be caught on the outside because we’d be forcing traffic further back out onto the road network,” he said.
Mr Barr added: “If there was a simple solution, it definitely would have been applied.”
Meetings are underway with the Chief Minister’s directorate, along with Roads ACT and Transport Canberra, to examine how access could be improved.
Mr Elkins said the mixture of buses was under consideration, but some of the problems occurred not because of the number of buses available, but because of the timing of when they arrived and when motorists using private cars arrived at the stadium.
“We’re also looking at how we continue to advertise other places that can be parked [at] and how we service those with buses,” he said.
Mr Barr added that the government continued to aim to have free public transport bundled up into sporting event tickets, but that was easier to do for regular events such as Raiders and Brumbies games.
“Where we have slightly more difficulty, at times, can be those once-in-12-year events,” he said.
“We’re certainly focused on those occasional hirers [of the stadium], trying to get the same standard of communications and community engagement about access and egress from the stadium.”
