John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, on behalf of the Minister for Defence Personnel, the Hon. Darren Chester MP, I announced to my local community of Toowoomba that Defence Housing Australia was not to proceed with its plans for a very significant development at the old rifle range and Rifle Range Road in Toowoomba at Mount Lofty on the magnificent escarpment of our city. Tonight I want to talk about the background to that announcement and, most particularly, pay a tribute to many locals involved in advocating for this block of land over many years now.

Back in January 2017—in fact, 20 January 2017, so almost exactly three years ago today—I met with John Swarbrick and many neighbours of this site regarding, for example, a significant tree nomination for a Moreton Bay fig near the end of Henry Street, planted by the late Eric Albury French of Toowoomba before he left to serve in the Australian Army in the First World War. Such was the significance of this site recognised by local residents, not just in recent weeks or months but, in this case, quite some years ago.

Defence Housing Australia, as the owner of this land, transferred as it was from the Department of Defence to them in 2016, took up its right to submit a development application to the Toowoomba Regional Council. Of course, council is the sole decision-maker on such applications. Defence Housing Australia has to look, quite obviously, at Defence housing needs across the nation, and it needs to do so under legislation in as cost effective a manner as possible for the Australian taxpayers. So it's been a long three years for many local residents, and I pay tribute to them.

On 1 August 2018, for example, I met with locals such as Penny Claringbull, Sue Berghofer, Nancy Kenway, Janet Meibusch and Barbara Weller, amongst others, on the corner of Rifle Range Road and Martini Street to talk about DHA's plans. Those plans have evolved over the last few years. Initially, we thought it would be a relatively small development. Of course, as that was lodged with council, and in the various interactions with council over the last few years, it became a significantly larger development than originally envisaged, and I talked about the development we expected in this very House a few years ago. So here we are: Defence Housing Australia has decided to withdraw its plans and not proceed with the very significant plans—well over 340 housing lots on the edge of our range—and to consider other opportunities with the Toowoomba Regional Council instead. This came about because the new CEO of DHA, appointed mid last year—let's say a bit over six months ago—took the opportunity to review its business model, and it gave us the opportunity to review this particular development application.

I've worked very much with the mayor and, as I said, local residents, and they have led the charge, not just those in recent months but, in this case, people from well over three years ago, to the stage where we were able to make this announcement just last week. This is an opportunity to look at this significant asset, some hundreds of hectares, that will provide for a number of options for our city going forward. The Mayor of Toowoomba Regional Council, Paul Antonio, with whom I have discussed this site, as I said, for at least three years, talks about necessary fire trails on the edge of our range. This is quite obvious, given the summer that we've experienced. He talks about mountain biking opportunities. There's already a track there, but that will potentially provide significant tourism benefits for our city and, of course, the environmental and historical significance of this site.

So the message to Toowoomba and locals is that there's an opportunity, given the review of DHA's business plan only in recent months, to potentially look at a new future for this block of land. I would like to see it end up in the hands of council as custodians on behalf of our community. That's up to DHA and council. The job is not done. There needs to be more work on the options for our city going forward, and, as I said, I congratulate the locals involved in the discussion in recent years.

House adjourned at 20:00

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

took the chair at 10:30.