I am delighted today to announce a plan for the future of Jezzine Barracks that protects the community and heritage needs whilst retaining the special military significance of the site for the people of Townsville and Queensland.
Last year the Department of Defence conducted its most extensive community consultation process including site studies to help develop options for the future use of the Jezzine Barracks site.
Following the community consultations and strong representations from the Federal Member for Herbert, Peter Lindsay MP, the Australian Government has decided to gift the majority (87%) of the Jezzine Barracks site to the Townsville City Council for community use and heritage protection.
The Government will establish a community trust to oversee the provision of funding for the development of the site in accordance with the wishes of the community and the heritage listing requirements. This trust will be set up by Defence, but once established will operate independently of the Commonwealth.
Trustees will include a broad cross section of the local community, with government, military, heritage and indigenous representatives.
The Australian Government will make a grant of $10 million to the trust on the condition that Townsville City Council matches this contribution. This will provide a generous start to the trust fund. In addition the Commonwealth will provide up to a further $10 million subject to the Queensland Government matching the additional Commonwealth contribution.
Defence will retain Jezzine House as the residence of the senior military commander in Townsville and the 31 Royal Queensland Regiment precinct to house a relocated Army History Museum
Before transferring the land, Defence will spend about $4 million relocating the Museum, repairing the Fort area and P1 huts and undertaking remediation of contamination and subdivision works.
The Australian Government is also allocating $5.8 million to provide refurbished facilities for 11 Brigade when it relocates to Lavarack Barracks. This is a further demonstration of Defence's commitment to retaining an Army Reserve capability in northern Queensland.