Albanese government to sell off $3bn worth of historic defence sites amid push to free up space for new homes | Richard Marles

The federal government will sell $3 billion in historic defense properties across the country following a major audit of state lands and amid efforts to clear land for new housing development and public spaces.

Defense installations, including Victoria Barracks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, will be sold after multi-year inspection and civil servants will move into modern office spaces and heritage sites (including cabinet rooms used by John Curtin in Melbourne at the height of the Second World War) and open to the public.

Defense minister Richard Marles announced an audit of 3 million hectares of defense land on Wednesday and accepted recommendations to sell more than 60 properties, including islands in Sydney Harbor and a major munitions site at Maribyrnong, west of Melbourne. This area, which has long been a target for improvement, could fit 6,000 new homes.

In addition to golf courses, air bases, warehouses, training facilities and vacant land, RAAF Base Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, which is used as the headquarters of the Royal Australian Air Force command, is also earmarked for sale.

After relocation costs and other expenses, net income of approximately $1.8 billion is expected. Approximately $100 million a year is expected to be saved in maintaining disused and blighted properties, including 14 vacant sites.

Labor wants to increase the use of modern office space, including Defense Plaza in the Melbourne CBD, which currently operates at just 46% capacity. Sydney Defense Plaza is currently operating at 60% capacity.

The sale of 26 major metropolitan areas is expected to generate as much as $2.4 billion in revenue and save about $3 billion in maintenance and security costs over 10 years. These include sites at Randwick and Sandringham in Sydney, St Kilda in Melbourne and Fremantle in Western Australia.

Labor is expected to face a backlash over the sale of sites important to the country’s defense history, and the process, led by the finance department, is expected to take years to complete.

Sales of Victoria Barracks are expected to raise $1.3 billion, given their prime location in most major capital cities. Redevelopment opportunities are expected to be limited due to important heritage rules.

Show Island in Sydney Harbour, used to store munitions during the First World War and the Second World War, is to be sold after costing taxpayers nearly $4 million to maintain it over the past four years. HMAS Penguin at Balmoral will be retained partly for the defense diving facility and medical school.

Williams Air Force Base at Laverton in Victoria and Warradale Barracks in South Australia will also be partially sold, while Labor has decided against recommendations to sell the Pittwater Annex in Sydney.

Marles said every dollar from the sales will be reinvested in defense capability, including ahead of major changes prompted by the Aukus nuclear submarine deal.

“For the Australian Defense Force to be able to protect our nation and keep Australians safe, it must have a defense facility that meets its operational and capability needs,” he said.

“This has not been the case for years, with many defense sites sitting empty, decaying, underutilized and costing millions of dollars to maintain.”

The audit found that undersupported sites “drain resources away from higher priority needs” for defense.

“The defense is constrained by the weight of its history when it comes to the management of the property,” he said.

“Today’s real estate footprint consists of too many legacy sites with no clear ongoing connection to current or future capabilities. Urgent interventions are needed to correct the unsustainable trajectory resulting from decades of delayed decisions on controversial real estate matters.”

Authors Jan Mason and Jim Miller said management of major defense installations “has remained largely static since the late 1990s, despite recommendations from past inspections and white papers.”

“It is clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option.”

More to come.