Canberra needs better health, education, debt management and city planning long before it needs a new stadium, especially on one of the national capital’s most valuable public sites.

I expect that ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr will moderate his enthusiasm for a stadium on Commonwealth Avenue, even if the land in question is being presented as a gift, and the claim of the costs of building a substantial closed-roof arena well below any estimates made by the ACT government in recent years.

I am sure he would like to have a stadium, and the sooner the better. But it would seem far better if it were pressed upon him by public demand and fervour, given other problems on his plate.

Put simply, the ACT cannot afford it now. It’s drowning in debt, with no plan and no prospect of much bringing it down. That’s because of the tram, perhaps a noble idea in theory, but one which is sucking up taxpayer money at an enormous and continuing rate. The tram is the legacy of the old Labor-Green coalition – it was one of the conditions of Shane Rattenbury’s joining the government, and perhaps the government could now stop new stages of the project or slow down its development.

But even if that liberated some spending money, there would be many voices saying that building a stadium would not be the next priority, whether as a capital or a recurrent expense. Barr found money to build the tram by heavy borrowing and by severe cuts in spending on hospitals and health care, and on schools and vocational education. It shows in the poor quality and quantity of services available, particularly to citizens most in need.

Barr yearns for a stadium. Over his career, he has returned to this cause repeatedly. Eight years ago, I mocked his desire by quoting from the Book of Proverbs and Paul Keating: “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so does a fool return to his folly”. It might be a fitting memorial to his public service to the territory. But his plan has had to wax and wane according to the times, and the budget. He is currently talking about repairing existing infrastructure well past its glory days. But the time has not yet come again, with or without the gift – if it is to be a gift – of the Archbishop’s house on Commonwealth Avenue.

There is a case for a new stadium of some sort. But that no more requires or suggests that it be........

© Pearls and Irritations