New Karabar basketball stadium joining existing facility that's 'at our capacity'

Read the latest QDBA News Story by AboutRegional, Original Article: here.

Almost $500,000 in government money is bringing a long-held dream for a stadium a step closer to reality.

Queanbeyan and District Basketball Association lodged a proposal with the council in late 2025, before construction started in July 2026.

It will add a competition-grade court and amenities to the site, adjacent to its existing stadium in Karabar.

Board member Gary Bullivant said the upgrade came as their existing stadium, at more than 50 years old, was no longer fit for purpose.

“It doesn’t meet our requirements anymore, and especially our future,” he told Region of the existing infrastructure.

“We can see on the horizon are lots of new opportunities, things we can do, things we can help the community with.

“We just need to be able to pull it all together, and the starting point is the facilities.”

The existing stadium was built in the 1970s and has just one full-size court.

He said newly announced NSW Government funding, along with funding from Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, would cover the cost of replacing their amenities.

Mr Bullivant said the limited space had hamstrung their ability to plan practices and games for their players in what was an often cramped space.

He hoped the expansion would ease the burden on the association.

“We’ve been able to run two three-quarter-sized courts [in the space], and then across those a full-size court.

“It’s a bit of a mixed bag with line markings everywhere. People are getting very confused!”

He pointed to their 24 teams playing in the Basketball ACT competition, who haven’t had the space to play games on home turf.

“Because we really haven’t had facilities, we haven’t been able to host any games,” he said.

“We’ve had to go to Tuggeranong and to Belconnen to play … [This] new facility will let us have home and away games, so we’ll have teams from Canberra able to come in and play at our stadium as part of the competition.

He also said a women’s team would be made possible through the expansion.

“At the moment, we’re at our capacity in terms of what our current stadium can deliver,” he said.

He also said the association was working with the nearby Y Canberra Region about joint programs.

“[They are] right next door – part of the same building, essentially … We’re currently having conversations about that, and also getting access to their facilities, at least in the short term.”

The project has received a boost with $450,000 in NSW Government funding, through the state’s Active Regional Communities Package.

Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty was hopeful the upgraded stadium would attract more people to the sport.

“As a Queanbeyan resident, I used to play basketball here as a kid – very, very badly … I’m really pleased to be able to now be part of a government that’s delivering on upgrading facilities like this one.”

Construction is on track to finish by April 2027, but Mr Bullivant is hopeful it can be done before then.

Mr Bullivant said the building envelope should be done by Christmas, leaving things such as the flooring and other specialised equipment – which needed to be ordered from overseas – still to be completed.

“I’m looking to see if I can bring that forward because we’ve got the start of a new basketball year … [and I want to] get those activities in place [for that].”