Katy Gallagher says "significant investment" will need to be sorted in the May federal budget to bring the Australian Institute of Sport up to the required state-of-the-art standard now that it is staying in Canberra, but the exact figure is yet to be determined.
The Finance Minister and ACT senator has described the decision by an Albanese government-ordered independent review to recommend the "national home of sport" not be moved from Canberra ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics as a "great result", but she defended the need to order the review in the first place.
The review, released on Saturday, of the ageing and not fit-for-purpose AIS campus in Bruce has recommended formally rejecting a $1 billion plan to move it to south-east Queensland. The government accepted the recommendation.
Senator Gallagher said the commonwealth would work closely with the ACT government on the funds needed for the AIS campus, saying the government did not want to "fight with states."
"There is significant investment needed," she told ABC radio on Monday.
"Anyone who goes up and has a look around that part of Bruce will realise that the facilities have fallen in disrepair. Particularly the athletes' accommodation, places like that, that look like they haven't moved on for decades.
"So, we've got this report now. We'll consider it through the budget process, you know, but we wanted to make sure while we're doing that work, that we were able to give certainty around the location."
The Labor government has not yet released the full review report and recommendations.
Documents, released to this masthead last year under Freedom of Information laws, showed the Australian Sports Commission considering the $1 billion move or another decentralisation option, but preferring the option of staying in Canberra and spending $200 million to upgrade existing facilities.
Canberra and sporting figures such as ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, federal Canberra MPs Andrew Leigh, Alicia Payne and David Smith, independent ACT senator David Pocock, former Australian Olympics boss John Coates, and former AIS head Jim Ferguson campaigned against a move from the national capital.
But Queensland officials declined to take part in the review of the AIS's "optimal location", despite previous lobbying ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Senator Gallagher acknowledged "mixed views across the sporting codes" about the location of the AIS which necessitated the review.
"I don't think it's unreasonable when you do realise you've got to make some significant investments, to have a look at the best location ... how to make those investments, what's needed to make sure the AIS performs the role it did when it was originally conceived," she said.
"And that's what the review's done. And it's confirmed that Canberra's the place. So, that lays that argument to rest and we move on. And it's a great outcome for, obviously, for our hometown."
The review was conducted by the chair of the National Intermodal Corporation, Erin Flaherty, and CEO of Sport Inclusion Australia, Robyn Smith.
