Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was privileged to attend the official signing of the Amberley Community Engagement Forum terms of reference. Present were: Air Marshal Mark Binskin AM, the Chief of Air Force; Air Commodore Chris ‘Noddy’ Sawade, the senior Australian Defence Force officer of RAAF Base Amberley; Mayor Paul Pisasale; and me. We all signed the terms of reference. The Amberley Community Engagement Forum is something I have advocated for a long time. It is important to cement the close working relationship and the close relationship between the city of Ipswich, which celebrates its sesquicentenary next year, and RAAF Base Amberley.

Ipswich has had a 40-year love affair with the F111s. RAAF Base Amberley is becoming a superbase, with a $1.1 billion redevelopment that is going on right now. It looks like a construction site. RAAF Base Amberley contributes tens of millions of dollars to the Ipswich economy each year. The signing of the terms of reference symbolises the further cementing of the relationship—a reaffirmation of the marriage vow, so to speak, which is not likely to be broken for a long time to come. The Amberley Community Engagement Forum is a joint Air Force and Ipswich City Council initiative.

As I said, I have been advocating this for a long time. It is a forum to help discuss issues, challenges and problems relating to the base. The F111s—the ‘flying pigs’ as they are affectionately known—are loved by the Ipswich community. In fact, we named our rugby league team the ‘Ipswich Jets’ and the Ipswich basketball team the ‘Ipswich Force’. That is the degree to which we have embraced RAAF Base Amberley. The personnel there worship in our churches, are part of our P&Cs, play in our sporting teams and, of course, play an important role in the life of the Ipswich community.

The RAAF base at Amberley will soon see a major change. In March next year the first of the 24 FA18F Super Hornets will come to Ipswich. Wing Commander Glen Braz is currently in the US taking delivery of the first Super Hornet. The defence white paper recommends the purchase of 100 Joint Strike Fighters in the future. This will occur because air superiority is critical to all types of operations in the region and particularly to our defence. Having air superiority provides greater flexibility to conduct operations not just regionally but around the globe. It would be terrific, when the F111s are finally mothballed, if there could be some monument erected to recognise the contribution of the F111s to the Ipswich community. We have the Canberra bomber outside the neighbouring suburb of Willowbank, so some sort of lasting legacy of a physical nature to the F111 would be terrific. I have raised this with the Department of Defence, the Chief of Air Force and the Chief of the Defence Force. It would be terrific if this could happen in the future. (Time expired)