Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Macdonald for his continuing interest in this area of Defence activity in North Queensland. I advised the Senate of the signing of the memorandum of understanding concerning military training and training area development in Australia in the last sitting week. Last week, with my colleague the federal member for Capricornia, I had a valuable visit to Rockhampton with Michelle Landry. We met with local government and business leaders to discuss the very significant opportunities stemming from the Singapore military training agreement under the Australia-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This is an agreement which will see Singapore invest up to $1 billion in the Rockhampton region for the development of the Shoalwater Bay training area between 2016 and 2026.

Last week we held a forum, which over 100 business leaders from the local community attended, where I emphasise that priority will, in fact, be given to local businesses in support of the phases of both the development of the training area and the training activities themselves. The provision to prioritise local business is contained in the MOU and will ensure that the benefits of this investment flow through to the local community, boosting both jobs and growth into the future.

I had also accompanied my colleague the Singaporean Minister of Defence, Dr Ng, to the Townsville community immediately after the MOU was signed. We received a briefing on plans to accommodate the increased training activity at the Townsville field training area, and we met with Townsville business and local leaders to discuss those benefits and the implementation of those key initiatives. We discussed the opportunities for construction, for supply, for maintenance and for tourism and the potential in the retail and hospitality sectors over what is a 25-year agreement. The government is very committed to continuing to work with both Queensland communities throughout the implementation of this historic training agreement to build on the strong links that have already been established between Singapore and Australia.