On Sunday, I joined around 2,000 people at Moore Park with a single message: keep Victoria Barracks Sydney in public hands in Defence. On that stage stood people of all political stripes, side by side with the RSL, a former chief of the army and local representatives. We rarely see agreement across such a broad spectrum. The government should not ignore it.

Since the 1840s, the Victoria Barracks Sydney has farewelled Australians to war from the Sudan War to the First World War. It is a spiritual home of the Australian Army. But this is not just about the history. Victoria Barracks Sydney is still operational today. It is home to Headquarters Forces Command and the 2nd Health Brigade, minutes from the CBD, major transport, hospitals and stadiums. Veterans and former senior officers, including the former chief of the Army, told me that it has strategic and operational value. Its value to counterterrorism is one of the most compelling reasons for why it should not be sold and why it should continue to remain in Defence hands, and my community agrees. When I surveyed residents across Wentworth, 98 per cent rejected handing the site to private ownership. They asked me to protect its heritage, respect its military history and, above all, keep it in public hands—ideally, Defence hands.

Let's be honest. One group's voice is missing from this. While the bureaucracy made the recommendation to sell Victoria Barracks Sydney, uniformed officers and uniformed members of the Army cannot have their say. They cannot speak up about their perspective on this. They have to be unpolitical; therefore they cannot speak up. But when you hear from veterans and former chiefs of the Army about how important this is, you get a sense of what the uniformed community feels about this. I'll be honest. I'm not against making sure that every single site in Defence serves Defence's interests now. We need to be strategic and we need to be disciplined in the sites that we preserve, but this is the birthplace of the Australian Army and the closest and largest base to the CBD, where we are most likely to have a terrorist attack if we have additional terrorist attacks. That is the reason why we should hold on to this one—for its significant historical value but also its ongoing strategic value. It is short-sighted of the government to sell this off. It is not wanted by anyone in the community, and one government does not own 180 years of history. Once it is sold, it cannot be got back.

This is a government making a decision that is short-sighted and is not supported. I urge the government to rethink this. We do not want a boutique hotel. This is not the additional need in our community, and we don't believe that, even if it is sold, it would go to in public benefit. We think that this will go into commercial hands. This is not what the community wants.