“That the City Hill was allowed to deteriorate and become one big rabbit warren ought not diminish its role in maintaining the Parliamentary Triangle concept,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

A stadium on City Hill started as an April Fool’s joke. And then some fools took it seriously. It was a joke. A joke! 

April Fool’s Day jokes are supposed to stop at midday. Otherwise, the tradition goes, the joke is on you.

Going back many years, an April Fool prank by The Canberra Times suggested it was time to drain Lake Burley Griffin. I am surprised some wag did not suggest a combination. What about if we drain the lake and build a stadium in West Basin? But the joke continued to snowball.

In 2024 Canberrans were asked by the ACT Government to contribute ideas on what City Hill should look like following the extension of the tram network to the edge of the lake.

The idea was sold as “an exciting opportunity to reimagine City Hill as a city park befitting of its significant location.”

City Hill is a key point of the Parliamentary Triangle. This iconic aspect of the Griffin Plan ought not be taken lightly. And we ought not be frightened of having public spaces that are maintained as green environmental sanctuaries.

That the City Hill was allowed to deteriorate and become one big rabbit warren ought not diminish its role in maintaining the Parliamentary Triangle concept.

The approach by the government through the City Renewal Authority ought not be dominated by the debate around the need for a new stadium in the ACT.

Just because sport is important, does not mean it should overwhelm the significance of Canberra’s planning heritage.

Even a quick look on the internet identifies the value of City Hill: “The hill was planted in 1921. The design, supervised by Charles Weston, Canberra’s first superintendent of Parks and Gardens, was to emphasise the vistas along the six avenues radiating from the hill and reinforce the focus that Griffin placed on the hill as forming part of the Parliamentary Triangle”.

Times’ sports editor Chris Dutton argued: “City Hill stadium idea might actually work”. Of course he did. The sports element of this newspaper has been pursuing the idea for a quite a while.

As part of a transition from April 1, Dutton commented: “Nothing surprises Canberrans when it comes to the 17-year stadium saga that is still in an embryonic phase”. 

He added, it is “an idea the ACT government should look at seriously” before picturing ourselves “slinking out of the stadium and into one of the city’s bars to drown our sorrows after a Brumbies defeat”.

A headline a few days later blared: “It might not be as crazy as you think”, as the foolish idea snowballed with support from developers relying on an architectural design that was intended as part of the joke. But then, the majority of big developers in Canberra have never really been supportive of the Griffin vision of Canberra if it gets in the way of profits.

The advantage of the hoax is that it does highlight the desperate need for Canberra to have a national-standard stadium.

As an advocacy tool, using this sort of left-field trickery has proved an excellent springboard to have the stadium debate front and centre. A range of codes in the ACT have proven that they compete outstandingly at the national level and deserve an appropriate venue. 

It is not just league, union and football. As the Canberra Brave have demonstrated in ice-hockey, Canberra can have dominant teams on a range of codes. The support that The Brave has received at the Canberra Institute of Sport illustrates the level of backing the sport has in the ACT.

Yes! A new stadium is needed in the ACT. There should be an appropriate long-term vision for size and capability. Further development ought not be restricted to Baja’s drawings that would contain the stadium to 30,000. 

A stadium on City Hill works well as an April Fool’s joke – but hopefully the decision makers are not so foolish that they would leave us with what would be dubbed “The Fools Stadium”.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with CityNews since 2006.

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