Former Queensland Rugby Union Chair Peter Lewis believes that "it is crazy for the Australian Rugby Union to redevelop T.G. Milner Field in Sydney as a centre of excellence instead of Ballymore in Brisbane," according to Bret Harris of THE AUSTRALIAN. The opposition has made a A$10M ($9M) election pledge to help the ARU "build a base for the Wallabies and Australia's men's and women's sevens teams at T.G. Milner." Lewis argued that the ARU "should be trying to reclaim" the A$25M that the Howard government promised to redevelop Ballymore "into a centre of excellence, which would house the ARU and several Olympic sporting bodies." Lewis said, "John Howard gave us A$25 million and Kevin Rudd cut it. I'm annoyed that no one seems to be agitating for the reinstatement of it. There is a purpose-built office building sitting there at Ballymore and they [the ARU] could move in tomorrow. Ballymore is 28 acres of prime inner-city land. There is ample room for development. It's crazy that Ballymore is just sitting there" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 9/4).
