Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I would like to make three quick points. It is important to put these points on the public record. First of all, under the chairmanship of the member for Port Adelaide, the Public Works Committee has been functioning extraordinarily well. We all work together in a completely bipartisan way and deal expeditiously with the matters brought before us. In these matters, which are all to do with Defence, Brigadier Bill Grice and his team are working in an outstanding way to make sure that the evidence is presented to the committee in a proper way and the committee can be satisfied that the proposed works are good value for the Commonwealth of Australia. I congratulate Bill Grice and his team.

I have two comments on the report. First of all I want to comment on a matter alluded to by the member for Port Adelaide—that is, the report on the Edinburgh Defence Precinct. Some of the land that is required for this particular project was sold. Our report says:

Although initial planning for this project began in 2005, it was not factored into land sales and the Commonwealth is now facing the additional cost of buying back this land.

The Minister for Defence calls it a hiccup. But it is not a hiccup; it is more than that. The land was sold under the previous government. My point is that it is time to stop selling Defence land without thinking about the future. For example, the open space at Randwick Barracks must not be sold. Warradale, Hampstead and Keswick Barracks in Adelaide must not be sold. They must be kept for Defence purposes. You find these examples across the Commonwealth of Australia, and I want to alert the parliament that I will certainly be advocating that Defence land not be sold, with an eye to what might be required in the future.

My final point—and you would expect me to cover this—is in relation to Townsville. In this report we recommend the spending of multimillions of dollars at 5th Aviation Regiment in Townsville to look after B Squadron with 10 new MRH90 medium lift troop helicopters. Works will involve modifying the B Squadron aircraft shelters, extending the mission planning facility, building a new simulator building, upgrading the technical support troop facility, upgrading the technical support squadron aircraft life support equipment workshop and providing a new forward repair troop and draft priority 1 store building. In addition to this, and through a separate arrangement, a multimillion dollar simulator will be built. This will provide the opportunity for a new aerospace industry to develop in Townsville, and for that reason I certainly commend this report to the House.

See this speech in context