The ACT Greens vow to invest more than $224 million in community sport facilities, shelving the stadium debate for a move they hope will cater for growing demand and strengthen sporting pathways before the Olympic and Paralympic Games return to Australia.
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury promises to spend $124 million on immediate projects outlined as major priorities by Canberra's sporting bodies, while investing a further $100 million in a long-term plan to improve the city's facilities.
The "crown jewel" of the Greens' vision is to create a new sports and recreation peak body - steered by two full-time employees in positions created by an $800,000 investment across four years - to bridge a gap between local sporting bodies and the government.
The plans include $30 million indoor sports facilities in Woden, Molonglo Valley and Gungahlin, a $10 million Australian rules facility in Kambah and millions being injected into surface, lighting, storage or change room upgrades at venues from Reid to Hughes, Jamison, Aranda, Taylor and the Lyneham Hockey Centre.
And Rattenbury wants to throw open the doors to Manuka Oval for local cricketers, spending $350,000 per season - for a total of $1.4 million - to allow for 25 days of access per cricket season at a venue which is unused outside elite competitions like the Big Bash and AFL.
"At the moment, we hear the stories about how there are not spaces for women to get changed, we don't have the lighting we need at community facilities, ovals have got uneven surfaces," Rattenbury said.
"We've had really clear feedback from the sports. They need a consistent plan for managing the assets around the city. They're seeing facilities that are not up to date. Things like hockey pitches wear out, ovals need resurfacing. With climate change, more sports are going to be training at night, particularly in summer, so they need more lighting.
"We want to give sports a clear 10-year plan of what the facilities management plan is for the government, so when they can expect investment.
"We know there is a desperate shortage of indoor sport facilities at the moment. Sports like basketball are booming, and people just can't get court time or they're playing at 10pm. These things are not encouraging community activity."
The Greens plan to consult with the public on an audit of sporting infrastructure to understand the requirements to maintain, repair, and reuse assets across the city, while declaring local sporting bodies need more input into how facilities are used and maintained.
Greens MLA Laura Nuttall says the creation of two new roles to work with government officials and sporting bodies will be crucial to giving sports a seat at the table in Canberra, where costs to play sport soar above those in every other state and territory.
"The crown jewel of the policy we've got is establishing a sports and recreation peak body to liaise with the government to actually provide advice and give sports a direct voice to government," Nuttall said.
"That real sense of clarity is so important to sports groups. ACT Greens have been really strong at pushing for a facilities management plan.
"We moved a motion back in April 2021, calling on the government to establish a strategic plan, a comprehensive facilities management plan, and look into the barriers to participation in sport. It was unanimously supported, so you'd like to think the government would have actioned it since then. Unfortunately all we've seen since is a facilities roadmap, which is two sides of an A4 document. And more recently, a facilities priority survey.
"What we actually need is to understand the condition of sports grounds and indoor facilities across Canberra. If we don't know whether facilities are at capacity, if we don't know what state of repair they're in, how are we able to give sports clarity, and how are we able to plan for future facilities?"
The Greens' ambitions have been backed by two-time Paralympian and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Sam Carter, who says community sport facilities are crucial to unearthing the next generation of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
"As a person that has gone through the pathways of community sport through to elite sport, it's really instrumental we have strong, well-catered for community programs," Carter said.
"This will go a long way to ensuring, in the lead up to a home Olympic and Paralympic Games, that we have the infrastructure we need to ensure people have the infrastructure and services required to maintain that pathway from community through to elite sport."
