Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week, the government released our response to the Defence Estate Audit. This report recommends a divestment of RAAF Williams Point Cook and a significant part of RAAF Williams Laverton. The government's response to this audit has rightly been made on the basis of its assessment of the national interests and the needs of the ADF in changing strategic circumstances in which Australia finds itself today.

The world has changed a lot since these bases were established and Australia needs to make hard choices to ensure that locations of our defence bases are fit for purpose and that the ADF has the facilities and capabilities it needs to keep Australians safe. But these recommendations will also have significant local implications for our community in Melbourne's west. So I want to reassure my community of a few things.

Despite the breathless media coverage this morning, no decisions have been made about what will happen to land divested as part of this audit. The process for deciding how this land is used will be a long one. It will take years and our community will have plenty of opportunities to be heard. As the local member, I'll work with all levels of government to ensure two things along this journey. First, that the heritage value of Point Cook as the birthplace of the RAAF is preserved. Point Cook has been on the Commonwealth Heritage List since 2004. Julia Gillard fought for its preservation as the local member then, and I'm not about to squander that legacy as the local member now. Done right, this process is an opportunity to increase Australians' access to this heritage site, which is currently severely constrained due to the significant limitations of public access to an active RAAF base. Second, I know full well the strains that development in Melbourne's west is putting on our local infrastructure. I live it. Point Cook has grown to become Australia's biggest suburb by population and our community needs infrastructure to keep up with it. So, should any part of these estates be made available for housing in the future, putting in place the necessary infrastructure to support it before any construction occurs is essential.

At the last federal election, the federal Labor government committed $55 million to duplicate and upgrade Central Avenue between Lunn Court and Skehan Boulevard, leading into the intersection at Point Cook Road, which is currently being reconstructed with state government funding. We also made $3.5 million available for a business case to upgrade Point Cook Road between Jamieson Way and Dunnings Road. Both of those projects will make a real impact on the current congestion on Point Cook Road, but I understand that more will need to be done in the coming years.

I welcome the engagement I've had with my state and federal colleagues on these heritage and infrastructure issues to date, and I'll continue to pursue them as this process unfolds in the coming years.