Transcript Ross Solly ABC 666 with Stephen Campbell (Cruachan Investments/CBR Brave)

8 September 2026

ABC 666 Ross Solly Breakfast 8 Sept 2026

Interview with Stephen Campbell (Cruachan Investments/Canberra Brave)

Solly: Stephen Campbell will tell us now that, in fact, ice sports in the ACT are going gangbusters. He’s the owner of the Canberra Brave and, of course, he’s the Cruachan Investments director and one of the major proponents of the Tuggeranong ice rink. Stephen Campbell, good morning to you.

Campbell: Good morning.

Solly: Ice sports are going gangbusters, aren’t they, in the ACT?

Campbell: Oh, they are. The growth nationally and particularly in the ACT has been phenomenal. We’ve seen a four- to five-fold increase in junior participation and a significant increase in women’s participation. And most of that is on the back of the success of Canberra Brave playing out at the AIS Arena.

Solly: Are you disappointed in the decision yesterday or is this a no-brainer?

Campbell: Look, it wasn’t unexpected. You know, we’ve been saying for some time to government that the Tuggeranong site was incredibly challenging. It had locational issues, it had a lot of building constraints that made it very expensive. The government did make a political decision to build in Tuggeranong. They said to us, “look, put forward a proposal of what it would cost to build out of Tuggeranong”, which we did, and the additional costs for preparing the land were unviable. So I actually think it’s an appropriate decision of government.

Solly: People are saying, well, once upon a time you thought the site was okay. So what changed, Stephen Campbell? And in the end, did you sabotage, not that’s a too strong a word, but did you end up killing the project off because you didn’t want it there, you didn’t like Tuggeranong as a site, it was not central enough, and you found a way to get it killed off?

Campbell: Well, let’s put this into context. The original expression of interest required proponents to identify five sites. We identified five sites and none of them were in Tuggeranong. On awarding the EOI to the owners, the government said, “look, appreciate you’ve identified five sites, but this is where we want it”. And we said to the government, “okay, we’ll see if that’s a feasible option and we’ll work to that”. And look, both parties, the government and our development partners, Pelligra and myself, we worked with a genuine intent to make it happen. But this has occurred over many, many years. We didn’t get the final contract from government until July 2025. So the original costings that were done in 2019, some six years, there have been substantial increases in building construction costs, which everybody would be aware of following COVID and other world events. So unfortunately, timing issues, location issues, they all compounded.

Solly: So if there’s a blowout in pricing, if in the end it becomes unsustainable, that’s because of the government’s dithering more than you setting unrealistic goals?

Campbell: I would argue that’s the case, yes.

Solly: The five sites that you identified, I mean, assuming they have similar sorts of cost overheads to the one in Tuggeranong, so why is the one in Tuggeranong, why was that more expensive or more difficult than the other five sites that you’d identified?

Campbell: Because the site out at Tuggeranong is on a significant slope. We’re talking about a very large footprint building that needs to be flat. You can’t tier build an ice rink. And that adds significant cost. There is a waterway that runs through the centre of the block which provides other challenges. It was up to the proponent to build a pump station to deal with the water that came through. That was an additional cost. So there were lots of things. There were over 200 trees that needed to be cut down. 179 of them were identified as being captured under the Urban Tree Act. So I actually don’t think we’d get approval for it anyway. I can’t imagine a circumstance where a government would allow us to cut down, and whether it’s environmentally prudent to cut down 179 listed trees.

Solly: Last time, not the last time I spoke to you, but Stephen Campbell, one time when I interviewed you, you know your critics were saying, “well, look at your track record. You’ve also promised to build sites in Adelaide, et cetera, and you’ve never delivered”. What do you say to those critics? Because again, they’re saying that again this morning, that you’ve never delivered on any of your promises and the government shouldn’t have got involved and got you as part of this in the first place.

Campbell: So there were two proposals in Adelaide. One is Marion. Marion fell over because we had to cut down two trees. Not 200, two trees. And there was community outrage. There was a ‘sink the rink’ campaign, as it was called, where people were chaining themselves to the tree and they blocked one of the main roads. And it was six months out from a council election. And so the councillors got all concerned that their jobs were at risk and they pulled the support for it. So we didn’t get planning approval. Playford’s going ahead. We’ve signed all the contracts. It’s taken a long time. There have been numerous problems along the way. We had some internal issues within the council. We had a change of council elected members and also of salaried staff. And we’ve had to go through multiple development planning stages with that. We now have those approvals in place.

Solly: So you are capable of delivering? You are capable of delivering? And if you can get the government to work with and you can get a deal, you are capable of delivering. Are you, Stephen Campbell?

Campbell: Absolutely. Absolutely. And we’ve demonstrated that with the AIS. I mean, the AIS, people refer to it as a pop-up rink. It’s a permanent installation that’s done in a temporary setting. We’ve demonstrated two years in a row that we’re capable of doing that. We’ve signed off all the documentation. I flew to Adelaide last night for the sole purpose of finalising the last of the design for the Playford rink.

Solly: Do you still want to be part of the discussions with the ACT government or are you feeling a bit jaded by your whole experience?

Campbell: No, no, we're willing to participate in the further discussions. I met with the government yesterday morning. They said that they were disappointed that this was the decision that was being made. I think they were expecting an angry response from me, and I turned around and I said, “I absolutely agree with you. It's the correct decision”.

Solly: It's the decision you wanted, to be honest, Stephen Campbell. You didn't want it to be in Tuggeranong.

Campbell: No, I don't want government to waste money. If you're going to spend... millions of dollars, you want to do it in sports infrastructure, not into earthworks. And the problem with the Tuggeranong site, more and more money was going to be going into site preparation rather than actual building of infrastructure. So it's prudent for government to spend money on infrastructure, not on moving soil and retaining soil. And I've been very clear about this. You know, as the success of the BRAVE improved or increased and more and more participation in ice sports generated as a consequence of that, it was particularly important that we have a central facility that enabled everybody from the ACT to participate.

Solly: What’s the best site? Tell us the best site that you've identified, Stephen Campbell. If the government says they still want to have discussions, where is the best site?

Campbell: Well, I'm not going to identify those. We have two sites that we have identified.

Solly: Are they central? Are they central? I mean, where are they? How far are they?Campbell: They're within a 5 kilometre radius of the CBD.

Solly: Right. And you could do that at a reasonable cost? Do you reckon what sort of ballpark...

Campbell: Both sites are flat. They don't have any water issues on the site. So, yes, they could be done much cheaper. And also, the actual concept has changed as well. At one stage, back in 2019, we were looking at a venue that could accommodate the growth of hockey for the likes of the Australian Ice Hockey League games that Canberra Braves plays in. We now know that that's not required because we need a venue of 6,000 to 8,000 seats, which you're not going to build just for a hockey team. That's what a convention entertainment centre proposal would be able to accommodate. Until then, we're very happy with our home at the AIS Arena, 3,000 seats. We don't need a 1,000-seat or a 3,000-seat ice hockey arena anymore.

Solly: All right. Stephen Campbell, we need to leave it there. Thanks for your time this morning. We really appreciate it.

Campbell: Okay, thank you.

Solly: That's Stephen Campbell. He's the Cruachan Investments director, the main proponent of the venue … not unhappy that the Tuggeranong ice rink is not going to go forward.