Central Queensland advances bid for major defence hub

Central Queensland bids for defence investment as it hosts major army training operation In short: Central Queensland politicians are preparing to take a business case to Canberra to lobby for more investment in defence infrastructure. It comes as the region hosts the army's largest collective training organisation with thousands of defence force personnel coming to the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. What's next? Meetings with the federal government are slated for September, with the process expected to take years. A new army vehicle has defence officials very excited. The Boxer Block II Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle has faced its most significant field test to date in central Queensland, after thousands of army personnel practised combat skills on a simulated battlefield with a live enemy, civilians and even a mock TV crew. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Johnson says the vehicle is bringing the army into the digital age. "This vehicle is a step change in capability from the previous Australian light-armoured vehicle that the public would be [familiar] with in Iraq and Afghanistan,"he said. "Its robustness, its mobility, the way it can communicate between the vehicles, as well as the ability for the enemy to really struggle to detect the vehicle … has been a significant advantage." Sitting 80 kilometres north of Rockhampton, Shoalwater Bay Training Area has more than 450 hectares of dense bushland and sea. It is one of the key assets within the region that a group of central Queensland politicians will be touting in Canberra next month, when they present a business case to the federal government for greater defence investment. The business case includes a proposal to build a defence-logistics hub to repair and maintain machinery, a medical training centre to boost the number of local health professionals, and a submarine-support facility in Gladstone. Rockhampton Mayor Tony Williams said it was about identifying the Defence Force's priorities and presenting solutions. "It's a fantastic opportunity to diversify our local economy,"he said. "If we get a stronger military and defence presence in the region, it just gives us so many more options there and buffers our local workforce." A core part of the proposal is more short-term accommodation, which would serve as an athlete's village for the 2032 Olympic rowing, while also hosting defence personnel and medical specialists. Cr Williams said it would ease the region's housing shortfall. "We have a lot of workforce [that] fly in, fly out for the mines and other development projects in the region," he said. "If we can start to take the pressure off the existing housing market by having a dedicated area for those workers … that frees up other opportunities for those other needs that we see in our community." Defence legacy The land for the Shoalwater Bay facility was acquired by the Commonwealth in 1965 and was used to prepare soldiers for battle in the jungles of Vietnam. This month, it hosted 3,000 army personnel for Exercise Pozieres Run, the army's largest collective training operation of the year. Participants were tasked with liberating a community from enemy forces while surviving in the bush on ration packs with no beds and showers. Brigadier Jen Harris, who commands the army's seventh brigade, said Shoalwater Bay felt like "home ground". "This is where I can conduct and test the brigade … to the extremities of our war-fighting capability, to bring the whole team together,"she said. Defence community researcher Amy Johnson said central Queensland's "long-standing" military history meant the region was well-placed to grow its defence sector. "We've got some really strong existing logistics and industry," Dr Johnson said. "Things like Rocky Airport and the Port of Gladstone." David Andrews, a senior policy adviser at the ANU's National Security College, said the project may face challenges with labour shortages and costs. "There's a few really big defence-led infrastructure projects going on at the moment that are pulling in lots of focus," he said. "Inevitably, workforce is a challenge as well as purely the cost of a lot of the building materials that we're getting that are caught up with the trouble in the Middle East." Mr Andrews said while the government's AUKUS nuclear submarines project was chewing up a lot of the defence budget, there was certainly an appetite for other projects to increase the country's national resilience. "The National Defence Strategy has outlined the fact that we no longer have what is described as 10-year strategic warning time, which means we have to prepare for the hopefully remote prospect of conflict much, much sooner than within 10 years," he said. "That means we have to make investments now to support that to keep Australia safe." In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Defence said infrastructure in northern Australia was essential for Australia's capabilities. "Defence remains committed to maximising opportunities for local industry in northern and central Queensland, with ongoing prospects for businesses in logistics, maintenance, administrative and transport support," the statement said.