WHEN are we going to abandon this light rail folly and build something that pays for itself because it’s an embarrassment that as the national capital we can’t provide a serious convention centre?

I had a long discussion with Robyn Hendry, from the Canberra Convention Bureau, who explained that even had we waved a magic wand and created a world-class convention centre, we still would have fallen way short. Why? Hotel accommodation. Not necessarily the number of rooms, rather we don’t have high-end suites at enough different places.

World leaders don’t tend to stay in the same hotel as other leaders. Robyn reported on all this stuff a few years ago for the ACT Government. Since then our high-end hotel capacity has improved, but there’s a long way to go.

“We need to induce more demand for this sort of accommodation,” Robyn told me. How do we do that ? By running more conferences.

How many conferences do you think we’ve knocked back in the last 12 months because we didn’t have the facilities? Robyn has said “no” to 89.

The average conference involves around 500 people and would go over two to four days. Do the sums as far as extra overnight stays in the capital.

All those in favour of a convention centre over a tram line say “aye” – and loudly.