Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Preventing Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present two petitions, one with 948 signatures and one with 21 signatures, regarding the sale of surplus Defence land, formerly the Bulimba Barracks, as endorsed by the Petitions Committee.

This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House: The Abbott Government has proposed the sale of the Bulimba Barracks located in Bulimba, Queensland. The barracks site at Bulimba is 23ha and has, since WWII, been the location of military personnel. Recently the Army's Joint Logistics Unit (JLU) relocated from Bulimba Barracks to Amberley. Bulimba is a desirable area with high property values. We understand that the site will be sold on the open market by the end of 2015.

We therefore ask the House to: allocate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the Barracks to upgrade local community infrastructure. We believe the Federal Government has an obligation to financially assist with the cost of upgrading local roads and community infrastructure as a result of the Barrack's transition into a residential living area.

from 948 citizens

This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House: that the Turnbull government plans to dispose of surplus Defence land, formerly the Bulimba Barracks, at Bulimba, on an open market sale for full market value. We are concerned to ensure that the Federal Government not, by the sale, place our community in the position where it must fight over-the-top development applications that are not consistent with the Masterplan we have all worked so hard to achieve.

We therefore ask the House to: ensure that any valuation of the site be undertaken having regard to the Barracks master plan which has been adopted through the Statutory Planning Scheme, and ensure that any sale terms take into account the community's best interests.

from 21 citizens

I've been working hard with Di Farmer, Shayne Sutton and, more recently, Kara Cook to make sure that the interests of our community are not forgotten when Defence disposes of the Bulimba Barracks land. The local community is deeply concerned about the sale of the barracks site, as you can see from the petitions, which oppose over-the-top development applications that are not consistent with the master plan and call for a small part of the sales proceeds to go to defraying infrastructure costs that will necessarily arise if the site is developed.

I call on the House to listen to the wishes of these signatories and members of my community. An obvious thing that we could do—or at least the government could do—would be to reopen negotiations with the state government as the Commonwealth negotiated with the local council in respect of the Milton Barracks. There is no reason why the Commonwealth should not seek to reopen negotiations with the state government, particularly since the state government, unlike in the case of Milton Barracks, was looking to make a market value purchase of the property.

I thank the local community for their work in standing up for the interests of the lifestyle that we all enjoy in that part of my electorate and I look forward to a favourable response from the minister and from the House.