Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk about a military site in my electorate, Fort Direction at South Arm. Fort Direction was established in 1939 as a defence and training facility for the city of Hobart. There was an issue in the local community over the Christmas break because a defence work order, which was a clerical error, had been issued in October 2010. Over the Christmas break, a bit of community concern was unfortunately whipped up, frightening some local residents, by a local senator, Senator Bushby.

I spoke to the media and reassured the local community that some heritage buildings at Fort Direction were not under any threat and that the Department of Defence would consult with the local community before any decision was made on the future direction of those buildings. This community concern was continually whipped up. It is unfortunate, because Senator Bushby was told at some Senate estimates in February this year that it was a clerical error, that these buildings were not going to be demolished and yet he continued to try to scaremonger in the local community. After various media reports and releases by me trying to calm down the community, we were able to reassure the community just a few weeks ago on 5 May.

The Department of Defence gave a full briefing of their review of the buildings at Fort Direction. It has been assessed by the Department of Defence as having significant heritage value as a site. I want to reiterate for the local community that there will be no demolition of any heritage buildings at the site and that the Department of Defence will look to renovate and maintain the existing buildings. That will allow more use of the site for training purposes. Defence will continue to communicate with the local community, with the potential for a Fort Direction open day and other community forums down there. Fort Direction really is an iconic and beautiful site and I am very pleased that its heritage value and the important contribution to Australia's history have been recognised by Defence.

I want to thank those local community members who contacted my office about the issue because their interest and passion in Fort Direction are clear. It is in a really beautiful part of Tasmania. I am really glad that this issue has been resolved once and for all to the local community's satisfaction. It certainly was not helped by local Senator David Bushby trying to whip up a bit of fear in the local community. I will continue to reassure the local community that that will not happen. I look forward to the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Senator David Feeney, visiting the Fort Direction site in future weeks. He is going to inspect the site to see what all the fuss has been about, so we can continue to reassure the local community. (Time expired)