'Bizarre': Stadium wars erupt as Lee and Pocock rubbish ACT Government's $3 billion price tag for city stadium

The Canberra Liberals and Independent ACT Senator David Pocock have accused the ACT Government of inflating the cost of building a new stadium in the city for political reasons.

However, the government says the up-to $2.9 billion price tag is the result of soaring construction costs that are impacting similar proposed projects around the country.

The estimate is included in a lengthy answer from Sport and Recreation Minister Yvette Berry to a question on notice from Liberal Elizabeth Kikkert that was sourced from an external study the government commissioned from WT Partnership.

Ms Kikkert had asked what the estimated cost would be of updating Canberra Stadium, building a new stadium on the same site and building elsewhere in Bruce. She did not ask about the Civic pool site in the city.

The government has committed to a new stadium at Bruce after abandoning the city plan as not viable, while the Canberra Liberals say they would still prefer a stadium to be built in the city.

Ms Berry said the cost of a major refurbishment of more than half of Canberra Stadium, including a multi-story carpark, would be between $1.163 billion and $1.194 billion, a knockdown rebuild with accompanying infrastructure between $1.526 billion and $2.056 billion, and for a new build with accompanying infrastructure elsewhere in Bruce between $1.339 billion and $1.869 billion.

She said this compared with between $2.128 billion and $2.9 billion for the Civic pool site, including minimal surrounding stadium infrastructure.

The cost of acquiring land for a car park was not included.

The estimates included allowances for risk of around 30 per cent that would be examined in the next stages of project development.

Ms Berry said Canberra Stadium was still fit for purpose and a further targeted program of refurbishment could be undertaken to improve elements of the stadium without triggering the requirement for a full upgrade.

She said the assumptions for the cost estimates included a 30,000-seat capacity stadium; road changes; for the lower figure, a 100 per cent drip line roof and for the higher, a retractable roof; a 108,000 square metre multi-storey carpark; and surrounding stadium infrastructure such as plazas and landscaping.

“There has been considerable cost escalation in the construction sector, as evidenced through public discourse around other stadium projects or proposals around Australia,” she said.

Ms Berry said the initial estimate for upgrading the Gabba in Brisbane to 50,000 seats ahead of the 2032 Olympics was $1 billion in 2021, but by November 2023, this had risen to $2.7 billion with minimal expansion in scope.

“New stadium builds have also risen in cost substantially,” she said.

A proposal to build a new 50,000 stadium on Victoria Park was costed at between $3.0 and $3.4 billion.

“Similarly, the Tasmanian Government announced in 2023 it would build a 23,000-seat stadium at a cost of $715 million but has since admitted the stadium cannot be built for that amount. An updated costing has not yet been released,” she said.

The WT study was finalised in May this year and is based on a delivery time of 2030. It takes into account various escalations and design creep over that time.

However, Ms Lee said the costings for a new city stadium were bizarre and without basis, particularly when only three years ago, the government’s estimate was just $582 million.

“The Deputy Chief Minister must explain where the 400 per cent increase has come from or if she has misled the Assembly and made up the figure without any basis,” Ms Lee said.

“If infrastructure costs have indeed increased by 400 per cent in three years as claimed by the Minister, then it is incumbent on the Chief Minister to tell Canberrans how he will now fund his infrastructure pipeline of work previously costed at over $8.5 billion. Based on Ms Berry’s updated costings, this equates to $34 billion of total infrastructure spending.”

Ms Lee said the response highlighted that the Labor-Greens government know their Bruce stadium plan is woefully inadequate and does not have the support of the sporting codes or the community.

She said recent stadium builds include Parramatta (Commbank) Stadium ($360 million), and Sydney Football Stadium ($828 million) as well as Christchurch Stadium ($625 million) in New Zealand.

“The Minister must table all the costings to give full clarity and transparency on how she has come to this bizarre figure, which would make a new Canberra city stadium among the most expensive in the world.

“It is clear this response is politically motivated and a desperate move from a government that is out of touch, out of ideas, and struggling to sell Canberrans on their poorly conceived policies,” Ms Lee concluded.

Senator Pocock called the costings extraordinary and questioned how realistic they were given the huge disparity with previous estimates.

“I have never seen a government work so hard to kill off an idea that was theirs in the first place,” he said.

Senator Pocock said that while the figures might be inflated for political reasons, they show the high cost of continuing to delay a decision.

“Over two years into a federal Labor government, one of the biggest barriers to the ACT receiving more federal infrastructure funding is the lack of any detailed business case and ask from the ACT Government,” he said.

“The Commonwealth is putting money on the table. The ACT Government is not doing the work to put in compelling bids.”

Senator Pocock last year promoted a plan for a combined stadium and convention centre, with land sales for new housing in the city to offset most of the development costs, together with a plan to bury Parkes Way and finally connect the city to the Lake.

“We need vision, we need to be bold, and we need to get on with making the case and funding the investments in our city’s future rather than this cycle of sabotaging our own ideas as the ACT Government seems to do time and again,” he said.