Letter from the Editor: from motorsports to rent freezes, a tale of shiny, unlikely election promises

Election season is revving up and with it, a return to the quarter-century long Canberra pursuit of things that will never happen because we’re too small and frankly can’t afford them.

Exhibit A, the Belco Party’s Chic Henry memorial motorsport facility, named for the late co-founder of both Summernats and the party.

After what sounds suspiciously like a bit of doodling on a beer mat down the pub, the Belco Party reckons it can deliver a full-scale motorsports facility that will operate 365 days a year and bring F1 motor racing to Canberra at a cost of between $65 and $100 million.

For reference, the 750-hectare Tailem Bend facility in South Australia cost $150 million five years ago, financed by the family-owned Peregrine Corporation.

The oft-proffered argument is that besides the tourism value, a motorsports facility would reduce dangerous driving. Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry delicately sidestepped this by noting that there was no actual evidence to demonstrate this or indeed justify the cost.

Build a drag strip by all means, renovate the old venue near the airport.

But while the international Formula 1 operation is doing better these days, the Melbourne event currently costs the Victorian taxpayer between $80 and $100 million per annum. The F1 franchise is no more likely to come to Canberra than run laps on the moon.

Why? Because we don’t have enough people and we can’t afford it.

That answer also applies to a variety of things including high-speed rail between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It means other, more achievable, things are on the further horizon including a new convention centre and a stadium.

The ACT Government doesn’t escape the temptation to promise big things to voters who can’t add up either.

The proposed new stadium at Bruce has been identified as a “once in 50-year” infrastructure project, along with a convention centre and major works at EPIC.

The government campaign messages are all very optimistic about the stadium: there’s $760,000 in funding for technical due diligence as part of an expanded sports, health and education precinct, linking investments in the AIS precinct, CIT Bruce, University of Canberra and the Northside Hospital.

It’s more likely to happen and makes more sense than the motorsport unicorn circuit, but my advice would be not to hold your breath on what will be a 10-year project at the very least.

Labor also wants some baubles to dangle in front of the electorate. Light rail is now a work in progress and won’t change votes. The Canberra Theatre is similarly getting underway, so a bright and shiny new stadium fits the bill despite being unlikely to materialise inside a decade.

Why? Because, again, we don’t have enough people and we can’t afford it just yet.

Similarly the Greens have been floating the idea of a rent freeze as a solution to our mounting housing pressures. Leaving aside the fact that the ACT already limits rental increases to the CPI, and even putting to one side the rights and responsibilities of people who own rentals and have to pay for them, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that rent freezes will most likely reduce the availability of rentals.

Again, we’re not big enough for this to work. We don’t have enough people and we can’t afford it.

The Liberals have been very coy about their own infrastructure promises – and even more coy on what they’d cancel if elected. Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee says we’ll find out what they’re promising in June.

They’ll need to produce something: you can’t abandon infrastructure development without seriously compromising the city’s economic growth and workforce amenity. That doesn’t make sense either.

As more and more of this stuff rolls out, voters need to season their voting intentions with a large dose of common sense.

We do pretty well in Canberra and not all economic headwinds are our fault. Issues such as the decline in GST allocation and payroll tax revenue will balance out within a few years and we do need to keep building for a growing city that’s attractive to investors.

But like a child who wants all the glittering presents for Christmas, we just can’t have everything on our wish list. And like prudent parents setting reasonable expectations, politicians are foolish to promise that we can.