Canberra ice sports facility still unbuilt after 10 years
28 August 2026
By Nicholas Fuller
A decade ago, Labor promised to begin construction of a new ice sports facility, the Canberra Arena, within four years – but Canberra’s ice sports community is still waiting for the project to get off the ground.
On 26 August 2016, Labor pledged to help build the facility in Canberra’s south, construction to begin in the 2016-20 parliamentary term.
The government provided $75,000 for design and consultation, and an options paper found that a twin-sheet ice sports facility was viable and recommended to meet future demand. A site at Rowland Rees Crescent in Greenway was identified for proponents Pelligra Group and Cruachan Investments to develop.
The ACT Ice Sports Federation says Labor renewed the commitment at the 2020 and 2024 elections.
Then-sports minister Yvette Berry MLA committed $16 million in January 2023: the biggest commitment by any government – state, territory, or national – to ice sports in Australian history, the ACT Ice Sports Federation said at the time.
The federation said the facility, initially estimated before COVID to cost between $30 million and $35 million, could now cost closer to $50 million.
“And still, Canberrans have no new promised ice sports facility,” Federation representative Sandi Logan said. “No development application, no plans, no idea. Too many excuses, too many delays, too many hollow undertakings.”
Those explanations, Mr Logan said, include slow or incomplete responses from the proponents over their commercial arrangements; extensive probity checks; heritage and environmental issues affecting the Greenway site; and lengthy contract negotiations. The federation said the proponents had claimed Tuggeranong was no longer their preferred location.
“The effect of this lengthy delay on Canberra’s ice sports has been devastating, to put it mildly,” Mr Logan said.
Growth of ice sports such as ice hockey, figure skating, and broomball had been impaired, because they relied on a single sheet of ice at Phillip, limiting junior development and coaching.
The introduction or expansion of para hockey, speed skating, and curling had been non-existent or delayed.
Canberra had been unable to host national championships because the Phillip rink did not meet governing-body requirements for facilities, including change rooms, toilets, judging areas, spectator accommodation, and technology. International events could not be pursued for the same reason.
“Morale among existing ice sports participants, enthusiasts, and supporters is at an all time low after years of optimism, hope and expectation,” Mr Logan said.
The ACT Government acknowledged that “the delivery of this project has taken significantly longer than expected,” a spokesperson said. “The Government will soon be in a position to provide an update to the community.”
Labor backbencher Taimus Werner-Gibbings MLA tabled a petition earlier this year urging the ACT Government and its private development partners to deliver on their commitment.
Mr Logan said: “We want to believe the ACT Government still intends that the twin-sheet ice sports facility is built, but we have serious doubts about the proposed arrangement with the existing proponents – Pelligra Group and Cruachan Investments.
“Ultimately, the ACT Government may have to build the facility itself and then contract facility managers to operate the arena to serve the community’s current and future needs,” Mr Logan said. “Otherwise this project might never see the light of day.
“This is a project by the community for the community – for all of it, not for one specific ice sport and not for one specific team.”