Advertisement

Defence may sell Leeuwin Barracks

Defence may sell Leeuwin Barracks

East Fremantle's historic Leeuwin Barracks could be sold for private housing as part of the biggest shake-up of the Defence Department since the 1970s.

The Federal Government yesterday released its so-called First Principles Review of the department, promising to cut bureaucratic middle management and take 1000 uniformed Australian Defence Force personnel out of offices and put them back in operational units.

More than 1000 Defence jobs will go as the Government tries to pay for expensive military equipment and foreign missions such as in Iraq.

The Government signalled the military's huge procurement arm, the Defence Materiel Organisation, would be abolished and its responsibilities absorbed into the Defence Department.

The report found the department did not have enough money to maintain its vast property portfolio and recommended selling 17 bases identified in a classified 2012 report. It is understood one base recommended for sale was Leeuwin Barracks. Overlooking the Swan River, the barracks' land is among the most valuable held by the department.

The report said a conservative net value of the 17 bases identified for disposal was $1.4 billion.

"A radical approach is now required for estate consolidation and realignment and for obtaining government approval," it said.

The Defence Department owns swaths of valuable land around Sydney Harbour, as well as big weapons-testing ranges in the centre of the nation that could sit on mineral resources.

About 19,000 public servants work in the Defence Department but the Government wants to cut the bureaucratic workforce to 17,000 full-time employees.

Labor said the cuts could undermine the ADF's fighting capabilities and lead to more multibillion-dollar bungles in complex procurement programs.

Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson recently warned against more cuts.