John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Next Saturday Oakey will celebrate 50 years since the local airfield was handed over to the Australian Army to establish the Oakey Army Aviation Centre. A street parade: Chinook, ARH Tiger and MRH90 helicopter flyovers; and a formal dinner will mark the strong relationship between Oakey and the base.

What was a World War II RAAF base is now responsible for all Army pilot, ground crewmen, Loadmaster and aircraft maintenance training. Like other areas, we are dealing with PFAS contamination. Much has been done in containment and mitigation, and we have secured the first settlement with the Commonwealth with other cases under consideration.

The base also accommodates a helicopter training squadron of the Republic of Singapore Air Force and it incorporates barracks named after a former local federal member, Liberal minister and World War II hero, the late Sir Reginald Swartz.

This weekend's Oakey Together events will celebrate our history—the challenges, the highlights—and, above all else, the exciting future for this beautiful part of the Darling Downs, which is a place near and dear to my heart. As a boy growing up on a farm at Jondaryan, not far from Oakey, this was our major commercial centre, and certainly over the last 50 years—I was only a toddler back then—I have noted the significant contribution to the local economy from the Army aviation base.