Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As you know, the federal government is moving to sell about 21 hectares of land in my electorate at the site of the Bulimba Barracks. The Brisbane City Council and the state of Queensland are going to commence, in partnership, a master-planning process with community input and an evaluation of the mix of uses, housing types and densities. That is about to go ahead, but there is a potential for significant numbers of additional residences on the site, and there will be a corresponding pressure on local schools and infrastructure.

Accordingly, there will be a need for upgrades to roads. There is a set of traffic lights needed at the Apollo Road and Lytton Road intersection, which, unfortunately, because of the number of underground services, is costed at about $2.5 million to fix. It is a significant cost for the local community to have to bear. That is why I have asked the federal government, along with my state and council colleagues Di Farmer and Shayne Sutton, to make a contribution to the local infrastructure costs from the proceeds of the sale. The community has welcomed the military in its midst since the Second World War and, in return for that welcoming and that accommodation, I do not think it is too much to ask that some sort of contribution be made to the infrastructure costs of that land being sold and the consequential increase in residential development in the area.

Yet the parliamentary secretary has informed me that there will be no contribution of that nature from the proceeds of the sale. So imagine my surprise recently to learn, from the Westside News and from a statement in the parliament from the member for Ryan, that there is consideration being given to a concessional sale to the Brisbane City Council of the land at the Witton Barracks at Indooroopilly. If the government were to forgo revenue by a concessional sale of the Witton Barracks, then there would be a gross double standard if there was not a similar contribution to the community in respect of the sale of the Bulimba Barracks. I think that my community would be very disappointed if that were to occur.

I also want to mention that on 20 July the parliamentary secretary for defence wrote to me and indicated that a contamination report for the land at Bulimba would be available by 30 June 2015. Imagine my surprise to get a letter dated 20 July telling me that something would be available by 30 June. So of course I immediately wrote back to the parliamentary secretary and asked for an urgent copy of that contamination report. I wrote back to him on the same day; no response. I then wrote back to him on 30 July, again seeking that a copy of that report be provided urgently, and I am yet to receive a response in relation to that issue. I urge the government to ensure that the community get the appropriate support for the infrastructure that will be needed in the event that there are significant numbers of residential places after the sale and development of that site, and I ask that the parliamentary secretary do everything that he can to ensure the community benefits from the sale.