Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the fifth report of 2012, addressing Referrals made May and June 2012.

In accordance with standing order 39(f) the report was made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—This report deals with four referrals, with an estimated total cost of almost $1.12 billion. The majority of this cost is a Defence project estimated at $870 million. This is the largest single project that my committee has scrutinised in the current parliament. The other three referrals together account for the remaining $250 million. For each of the four referrals, the committee recommends the House of Representatives agree to the works proceeding.

The first inquiry examined a Defence Housing Australia proposal for the development and construction of housing for Defence personnel at a site in Kellyville, Sydney, New South Wales. The key objective of the project is to assist in reducing the proportion of Defence families residing in private rental accommodation in the Richmond region of Sydney to below the target of 15 per cent. The current proportion of Defence families in private rental accommodation in the Richmond region is 19 per cent.

Defence Housing Australia plans to develop road and civil infrastructure for 65 serviced allotments on a greenfield site close to the Rouse Hill Town Centre. Defence Housing Australia then intends to construct 34 dwellings for Defence personnel. Five of these dwellings will incorporate what is known as a 'Fonzie flat'—named after the character Fonzie in the Happy Days television series—a small self-contained unit built above the garage. The remaining allotments will be offered for individual sale. Defence Housing Australia gave a comprehensive briefing on social and community amenities in the locality. The committee considers that the location of the development will provide significant benefit and amenity for future residents.

I will now speak to the second of the four inquiries covered by this report. The high voltage electrical distribution upgrade project aims to improve the electrical supply and distribution network at Holsworthy Barracks. This will be achieved by ensuring a more reliable electrical supply, with adequate capacity to service growing demand at the barracks. The project will deliver a new 33-kilovolt electrical supply to the barracks and improve existing electrical infrastructure. The committee heard that in 2012 there has been an average of 1.72 power outages per week affecting the barracks. Most of this is due to storm damage to overhead cables. Therefore, where possible, electrical distribution infrastructure will be located underground. The project also includes additional capacity to meet anticipated growing demand to 2030.

The committee had some concerns about the completeness and timeliness of information presented to it prior to the public hearing but was satisfied with the evidence from the day and from subsequent submissions. For future inquiries, the committee encourages Defence to provide comprehensive information at the time of the referral. That just makes the work that the committee does a lot easier, not having to wait for the day of the public inquiry. However, we did get the requisite information.

The third inquiry covered in this report examined the Moorebank Units Relocation, commonly called the MUR. This project proposes to remove Defence units and facilities from Steele Barracks, the site of the future Moorebank intermodal terminal, and relocate them to Holsworthy Barracks. It also involves consolidation of facilities at Holsworthy Barracks to deliver more efficient facilities to support Defence capability. This is the $870 million project I referred to earlier—the largest one that my committee has dealt with in this parliament. The works at Holsworthy Barracks will comprise five precincts. These are a new entry precinct, a School of Military Engineering precinct, a mess precinct, a physical fitness complex precinct and a training precinct. The works will also include the demolition of buildings that require replacement due to age or contamination.

The committee first inspected Steele Barracks and received a briefing before meeting informally with a number of Defence personnel during the site tour. A memorable highlight for the committee was seeing the explosive-detection dogs undertaking a training exercise under the expert direction of their handlers. I note there were no live explosives—they just went through the exercise. The committee learned more about the proud history of the School of Military Engineering and the strong ties that the sappers and many in the local community have with Steele Barracks. As part of the relocation a number of significant heritage items will be transported from Steele Barracks to Holsworthy and incorporated into the new precinct.

The committee also inspected Holsworthy Barracks, where it met special forces soldiers and discussed their training needs, amongst other things. The committee viewed the existing physical fitness complex, which would clearly struggle to meet any additional demand arising as a result of the Moorebank Units Relocation. The existing facility will be replaced by a consolidated physical fitness complex to cater for the training needs of over 3,500 personnel, including special forces soldiers, and for the rehabilitation of injured soldiers. The quality of Defence's submissions and briefings to the committee for this project was excellent. The committee was satisfied with the inspections and thanks all Defence personnel for their contributions.

Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, I move to the fourth inquiry in this report. The proposed Base Infrastructure Works Project under the Base Security Improvement Program will deliver new security measures at 16 military bases around Australia.

These measures include enhancing entry zones to increase access control capability and enhancing security capabilities and arrangements. Although the committee did not inspect all 16 bases, it received a comprehensive briefing covering all the proposed sites. Once again the committee was impressed by the excellent quality of the information provided at the briefings and hearings.

Two of the sites that the committee did inspect while in Sydney—Victoria Barracks and Garden Island—have significant heritage value. The committee was pleased to note the careful and detailed consideration given to providing enhanced security solutions which will have minimal impact on the heritage aspects of these sites. That will require some very challenging work to achieve those dual outcomes.

The committee also expressed some concerns about access points at two of the bases in terms of the traffic. The first is at Simpson Barracks in Victoria, where residential concerns were raised in relation to the development of a new access point. The committee had visited the site while in Victoria and discussed this issue at length during the public hearing. The committee notes that Defence has since met with residents and is making representations to address some local traffic issues. The committee knows that some of these, again, can be difficult to resolve, but usually you can get to some satisfactory arrangement by the continuation of the engagement with locals, and we were assured by Defence that that was taking place.

The second concern relates to an access point at Victoria Barracks in Sydney on Moore Park Road. The committee expressed concerns about traffic and road safety. Defence identified two further opportunities to improve safety at this access point. Given that Defence was able to propose additional safety measures, the committee encourages Defence to explore opportunities to consider whether similar measures would be beneficial at the other project sites.

Mr Deputy Speaker, in closing I thank members and senators for their work in relation to these inquiries. They were rather large inquiries and took a lot of time. I also thank the secretariat for the good work that they did, because it was a lot of work for them to get the report prepared and done for the parliament so that we could continue to do our work in a timely fashion. I commend the report to the House.