Jill L’Estrange, President HPG

I am just blown away by the crowd that have come tonight to show their concern about this very important matter, the proposed sale or the sale of HMAS Penguin. On behalf of the Headland Preservation Group and Mossman Parks and Bushland, I welcome you to this very important evening and to hear from our eminent panel regarding the Government's decision to sell off a part of HMAS Penguin.

I'm sure many of you, or all of you, tonight are here to share our concerns as to the fate of HMAS Penguin, the implications for the heritage and environmental protection of the site and the sale's potential impact on the Middlehead Peninsula, a site of national and international significance. We've just viewed The battle for Sydney Harbour, a reminder that we've fought this battle before.

And due to community pressure and the support of Labour stalwarts Tom Uren and Bob Carr, the battle was won. Now it's Labour, the Labour government, that is proposing to sell off this land. Again, a never ending battle. But I can see with the support of all of you here tonight, we will stand up and we will try and reverse this decision.

HMAS Penguin, as you know, is part of the defence lands of Middle Head Georges Heights and it was dedicated for defence purposes way back in 1870 as part of the strategic defence of Sydney Harbour and the Colony of New South Wales.

HMAS Penguin bookends the heritage of the site, a purpose built naval base and hospital complex built in 1942. The site is nationally significant itself for its cultural, natural and heritage values. HMAS Penguin is still an operational naval base and it includes the built environment and 6 hectares of Angophora, Sydney red gum, forest. And this forest forms part of the Sydney Harbour's natural bushland and open space.

The Federal Government proposes to sell 11 hectares of this 16.64 hectare site. It includes the historic buildings and the bushland and they intend to sell it at full market value. We heard from the Assistant Minister for Defence, Peter Khalil, when he visited Mosman two weeks ago that it's been decided that the partial divestment of HMAS Penguin will go ahead.

The land will be transferred to the Department of Finance and they will undertake the divestment process. Minister Khalil spoke in detail about the divestment at the meeting, and although he said divestment did not necessarily mean sale, he didn't explain the meaning of the term.

So what does divestment mean? Could be the sale to a developer, or maybe it could be the transfer of the land to the state of New South Wales. When questioned, the Minister also refused to rule out the inclusion of the Angophora forest in the divestment process. Obviously, it's for sale. The Minister explained that Defence needed money to upgrade facilities and equipment to make Defence fit for purpose.

Now, I'm sure everybody here understands that. However, he also referred to the presence of the Department of Finance representatives in the room who were available not only to answer inquiries, but they were also charged with handing out cards with details for buyer inquiries and expressions of interest. Clearly, this land is for sale and it includes an ancient Angophora forest.

The Minister for Finance, Katie Gallagher, has stated the land will be sold at full market value. That value, of course, depends upon what is going to be built on the land.

And in a location like this, a sale aimed at maximum return will almost certainly guarantee luxury housing or high rise accommodation. This would fundamentally be incompatible with the site's heritage environment and access constraints.

This decision by Defence to divest this nationally significant site has been made without community consultation, without taking due diligence and without a transparent cost benefit analysis. But one overt omission is the failure of the Department of Defence to recognise the heritage listings over this site. Defence refers to only one heritage listing that is incorrect.

HMAS Penguin is protected under two Commonwealth Heritage listings, one covering the base itself for its consistent architecture with nautical themes. And also the listing includes the whole of the Angophora forest.

The second listing covers the wider Georges Heights Middle Head defence landscape of which HMAS Penguin is an integral part. There is a third listing that impacts the site and it's the Military Road Heritage Framework. This dates back to 1870, when they were building the 1870 fort and rolling the cannons down the road. It runs along the southern boundary of HMAS Penguin and it is the only access point to the base. Now, this road cannot be widened, it cannot be curbed and gutted, and it must remain subservient to the park-like landscape where it sits.

So any major development would seriously damage these heritage values, especially through increased traffic and urbanisation. These Commonwealth heritage protections that I've just mentioned only apply while the land is in Commonwealth ownership. There is no clear explanation from the fence as to how these protections would be enforced. If the land is sold, there is no guarantee that the state will enforce the protections.

Most likely the land would be rezoned for residential development.

This creates a real risk that the heritage obligations will not be met.

Our position is HMAS Penguin must stay in Commonwealth ownership if Defence no longer needs part of the site, it should be transferred to the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, which was specifically set up to protect and manage the former defence sites in and around Sydney Harbour. And it has the expertise to do so.

The overriding principle in all of this is that HMAS Penguin is Commonwealth land, under the custodianship of the Department of Defence, and it belongs to the people of Australia. Thank you.