The need for a new convention centre in Canberra was identified as early as 2001, when the the 17th Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting was relocated from Canberra to Brisbane due to the insufficiency of our local facilities. Former ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope called for a new, federally funded convention centre in 2008, leading to extensive planning and design work from 2010 to 2015 on a proposed ‘Australia Forum’ to be constructed in Civic. But this project never came to fruition.
Canberra is an academic, political and cultural hub and was purpose-built as a meeting place. It should have world-class infrastructure for hosting major conferences, meetings and other corporate events.
Australia wants to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) and we should be able to host it here in the National Capital. Instead, our convention centre is the second oldest in the country and has received the least amount of funding of any convention centre in Australia. It has been operating at capacity for the past decade, preventing growth of the local conference and event sector. Australia wants to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) and we should be able to host it here in the National Capital. Instead, our convention centre is the second oldest in the country and has received the least amount of funding of any convention centre in Australia. It has been operating at capacity for the past decade, preventing growth of the local conference and event sector. Our convention centre’s 2,000 square metre exhibition space pales in comparison to Sydney’s and Melbourne’s 30,000 sqm spaces.
Of the 145 international business events listed publicly on the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux’s forward calendar from 2023 to 2029, none are being hosted in Canberra. These events are forecast to be attended by almost 200,000 delegates for a total visitor spend of approximately $600 million. The nation’s capital is seeing none of this tourism and related revenue, not to mention the additional spin-off activity generated by the access to global experts and trade opportunities these kinds of major international events could be creating for our community.
Many national peak organisations are headquartered in Canberra and would love to host their conferences here have no choice but to move them to Sydney. A larger convention centre would allow for bigger conferences to take place in the National Capital while also increasing our capacity to host multiple smaller events in the same week during peak periods. The spin-off economic activity generated by such events and enjoyed by local businesses is far-reaching, with an estimated $2.40 returned to the ACT economy over the first two decades for every $1 spent on construction.