The Australia Forum is a proposed

convention centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

complex for

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, Australia. The project was first put forward in 2011, and in 2017 its future became uncertain when the

ACT Government The Government of the Australian Capital Territory, also referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Government or ACT Government, is the executive authority of the Australian Capital Territory, one of the territories of Australia. The lead ...

withdrew funding for the preparation of a business case for it.

History

In response to what its planners saw as the Australian capital's "lack of a sufficiently large, high quality, secure venue that can be locked down without disrupting the city, as well as a lack of sufficient accommodation of a suitably high standard" a proposal was announced on 11 April 2011 for a $328 million complex in what is now Acton park on the shore of the Western basin of

Lake Burley Griffin Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after Walte ...

. The complex would include a plenary hall catering for up to 3000, a purpose designed Centre for Dialogue, a ballroom, large exhibition space, restaurants, bars, five-star hotel and associated parking. The centre is expected to be able to securely host political dialogue meetings such as the

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...

CHOGM The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM; or) is a biennial summit meeting of the governmental leaders from all Commonwealth nations. Despite the name, the head of state may be present in the meeting instead of the head of gov ...

as well as trade conferences. Whilst the announcement of the plan was received with broad, though not unanimous, approval it was noted in the

Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

's supportive editorial that the community rarely embraces such ideas usually for reason of public expenditure or vague public benefit. It was also noted that the Government might also be liable for substantial environmental rehabilitation costs before construction could begin. In March 2010 the Steering Committee for the "Australia Forum Scoping Study" was announced subsequent to several previously rejected proposals. The

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

government invested $500,000 in 2010 for the scoping study and in April 2011 agreed to allocate a further $1 million for technical studies. In 2015, a design for the building was announced by Guida Moseley Brown Architects, to be designed by

Massimiliano Fuksas Massimiliano Fuksas (born January 9, 1944) is an Italian architect. He is the head of ''Studio Fuksas'' in partnership with his wife, Doriana Mandrelli Fuksas, with offices in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen. Biography Fuksas was born in Rome in 194 ...

Committee

The committee consists of: *Professor

Peter Shergold Peter Roger Shergold is an Australian academic, company director, and former public servant. Shergold was the Chancellor (education)#Australia, Chancellor of Western Sydney University from 2011 through 2022. Between February 2003 and February ...

, former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Chair) *Dr Dawn Casey, Director,

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Park, Sydney, Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle ...

and formerly Director,

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

*Professor

Ian Chubb Ian William Chubb (born 17 October 1943) is an Australian neuroscientist and academic, who was the Chief Scientist of Australia from 23 May 2011 to 22 January 2016. Career Chubb has a Masters in Science, a DPhil from the University of Oxford, ...

, AC, Vice Chancellor,

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

*General

Peter Cosgrove General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Cosgrove fo ...

, AC, MC Chair of the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

Council *Ms

Virginia Haussegger Virginia Haussegger, (born 21 March 1964), is an Australian journalist, academic advocate for gender equity, media commentator and television presenter. Haussegger presented ''ABC News (Australia), ABC News'' on ABC Canberra (TV station), ABC ...

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

presenter *Mr

Rupert Myer Rupert Hordern Myer (born 13 August 1958) is an Australian businessman and philanthropist. He is a member of the Myer family, which, in 2014, was the sixth wealthiest family in Australia, with a net worth of more than $2 billion in properties a ...

, AM, Chairman of the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 35, 17, 13.14, S, 149, 7, 33.11, E, region:AU, display=title Convention centres in Australia Buildings and structures in Canberra Proposed buildings and structures in Australia

History

Committee

See also

References

External links