The federal government will sell off $3bn in defence properties around the country, after a major audit of land holdings found they served no useful strategic value.
Defence sites – including Victoria Barracks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – will be sold after the multi-year audit, tasked with identifying surplus and costly property holdings, often costing millions to maintain.
Some could be used for new housing developments, after sales managed by the department of finance.
Public servants will be relocated to modern office spaces, while some heritage sites – including the cabinet rooms used by John Curtin at the height of the second world war in Melbourne – could be opened to the public.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, released the audit of the 3 million-hectare defence estate on Wednesday, agreeing to recommendations to sell more than 60 properties, including islands on Sydney Harbour and a major munitions site at Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s west. A longtime target for remediation, it could fit 6,000 new homes.
Golf courses, airbases, warehouses, training facilities and vacant land are all earmarked for sell-off, as well as RAAF Base Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, used as the headquarters for the Royal Australian Air Force’s command.
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After relocation costs and other expenses, net proceeds of about $1.8bn are expected. About $100m a year is expected to be saved from upkeep of disused and run-down properties.
Labor wants to boost take-up of modern office spaces, including Defence Plaza in Melbourne’s CBD, which is currently run at just a 46% capacity. Sydney’s Defence Plaza currently runs at 60% capacity.
Up to $2.4bn is expected to be raised from the sale of 26 major metropolitan sites, saving about $3bn in upkeep and security costs over 10 years. These include sites in Sydney’s Randwick, Sandringham and St Kilda in Melbourne, Brisbane’s Petrie Terrace, and Fremantle in Western Australia.
Labor is expected to face a backlash over the sell-off of property central to the country’s defence history. The audit was completed in 2023.
The Victoria Barracks sales are expected to raise $1.3bn, given their prime locations in the biggest capital cities. Redevelopment opportunities are expected to be limited by heritage rules.
Spectacle Island in Sydney Harbour, used to store munitions during the first and second world wars, will be sold, after costing taxpayers about $1m a year to maintain. HMAS Penguin at Balmoral will be partly retained for a defence diving facility.
Air force base Williams at Laverton in Victoria and the Warradale Barracks in South Australia will also be partially sold off, while Labor has decided against recommendations to sell the Pittwater annexe in Sydney.
Marles said every dollar raised would be reinvested back into defence capability, including ahead of major changes sparked by the Aukus nuclear submarines agreement.
“In order for the Australian defence force to protect our nation and keep Australians safe, it must have a defence estate that meets its operational and capability needs,” he said.
“For many years this has not been the case, with many defence sites vacant, decaying, under utilised and costing millions of dollars to maintain.”
Marles said the objective of the audit was not about identifying land for new housing development, but some sites including Maribyrnong could be suitable.
The audit found underutilised sites are “draining resources from higher priority needs” for defence.
“Defence is constrained by the weight of its past when it comes to management of the estate,” it said.
“Today’s estate footprint comprises numerous legacy sites without a clear ongoing link to current or future capabilities. Urgent interventions are needed to correct the unsustainable trajectory that has resulted from decades of deferred decisions on contentious estate issues.”
Authors Jan Mason and Jim Miller said the management of major defence sites had “remained largely static since the late 1990s despite recommendations from past reviews and white papers.”
“It is clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option.”
Housing Now Alliance chair David Bolger welcomed plans for land sales in inner Sydney and Parramatta.
“This is about giving some of our most significant historic sites a new chapter,” he said.
“By sensitively opening these places up, we honour the service and sacrifice they represent, while ensuring they continue to serve the nation in a contemporary way.”