Contracts with willing sellers have been exchanged that will mean the new training area in north Queensland as part of the Australia-Singapore Military Training Initiative will be established at Greenvale.
The issue was the subject of an intense two-month campaign by landholders at the end of 2016, when the federal government announced it was forcibly acquiring land in the Charters Towers and Marlborough regions for the initiative.
It ended in early February 2017 when then-defence minister, Marise Payne, announced they would only purchase land from willing sellers, followed by news later in the year that the defence department was seeking to purchase land from willing sellers at either Greenvale, Ravenswood or Pentland.
Last week, assistant defence minister, David Fawcett, said the department had exchanged contracts with willing sellers to acquire sufficient land to establish a new military training area near Greenvale.
“Defence has been in negotiations with willing sellers for six months and I am pleased to report that we have reached this important milestone,” he said. “This has been a large and complex land acquisition program and I would like to thank landholders and the community of Greenvale for their ongoing goodwill and patience throughout this process.”
He added that progress was being made to acquire land to expand and further develop the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland.
“There is more work to do before construction can commence at both sites next year and Defence will continue to engage with landholders and local communities as we move into the next phase of development.”
North Queensland Liberal Senator, Ian Macdonald described the news as “a fantastic moment for Townsville, Charters Towers, North Queensland and northern Australia”.
“This agreement between Singapore and Australia will see 14,000 Singaporean soldiers training in our region for 14 weeks every year,” he said.
“The ASMTI will inject over $2 billion into the regional economy and is estimated to be worth around $50 million to the Townsville economy every year for the 25 year life of the agreement.”
Over the life of the ASMTI, there will be an injection of approximately $2 billion into Queensland’s regional economies, including an estimated $50 million spent annually during the construction phase.