Capital ideas: here are some of the proposals to make and promote Canberra better

Some people outside Australia think Sydney is the capital.

Yes, Canberra can do with some help to be seen as a peerless major cultural destination and to tell the "nation's story."

Chaired by the federal Labor MP for Canberra Alicia Payne, the joint standing committee on the national capital and external territories is looking into the possibility of "fostering and promoting the significance of Australia's national capital".

In part, it has become an opportunity for leading Canberra figures to look beyond the needs of their institutions.

Here are some of the ideas bubbling and percolating at the hearings at Parliament House.

There has been a positive response to the idea to share marketing and ticketing of the national institutions which this year collectively received a $535 million federal government lifeline in the budget.

This could be a summer series ticket, or a Canberra pass, to encourage visitors to go around to the different institutions and the "combined value" of what they offer.

Perhaps separate from the PACER (parliamentary and civics) program for visiting school kids, there could be a SPACER program for science institutions. "It would be a wonderful way to engage schools, particularly in Science and technology which is a critical issue for the country," Questacon director Jo White offered.

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There is a need for a streamlined, free public transport system for visitors to take in the cultural institutions. An 18-month trial of a free shuttle bus service jointly funded by a number of Canberra's top cultural institutions called "The Culture Loop" proved popular, but has now ended due to cost. There are suggestions the National Capital Authority should pay for a free bus service.

"Canberra is a beautiful city, but for many it is difficult to get around," Stephanie Bull, the director of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

The National Museum of Australia's director, Dr Mathew Trinca, has suggested a national centre of creative and cultural enterprise based in Canberra to back the work of the current national institutions.

He sees it as a way to "pump prime" the creative economy that "we know that we're going to increasingly trade on in this century."

It could take in the institutions, the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, the public sector and private sector in Canberra, according to Dr Trinca, to "research, practice, and communicate what it means to be human and what really we value about human experience that emerges from our cultural heritage."

The CEO of the National Sound and Film Archive of Australia, Patrick McIntyre, has suggested Canberra markets its suburbs better.

"Like the characteristics of different neighbourhoods so that people are getting the idea that some neighbourhoods are sleepy and leafy and other neighbourhoods have really interesting secret wine bars and other neighbourhoods have the big monuments," he said.

"The nightlife has been transformed. Civic has been transformed. There are urban enclaves like Braddon.

"The popular perception of Canberra is still very monumental and I think there could be a lot more done on badging all the different kinds of experiences you can now have in the national capital, which would help people stretch from like an overnight stay to two or three nights."

The National Museum of Australia, which has "inadequate" visitor parking, would like the West Basin boardwalk to continue to it on the Acton Peninsula so visitors can walk along Lake Burley Griffin from Civic.

"Really, the museum is an exclamation mark of West Basin there," Dr Trinca said.

And a better connection to the Parliamentary Triangle? A walking bridge to the peninsula has long been discussed.

"I think ultimately a bridge across that narrower part of the lake would be wonderful for Canberra. I would love to see it happen," the National Museum director told the inquiry before saying the boardwalk extension was his preference.

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