Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has called for First Nations consultation over Labor’s planned sell-off of major defence properties.
Lidia Thorpe said Indigenous community leaders were excluded from decisions to sell defence land she described as stolen from traditional owners.
Labor plans to raise up to $1.8bn by selling properties deemed to have no strategic value to Defence, including training sites, bases, warehouses and unused land.
Sites earmarked for sale include historic Victoria Barracks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, prime land on Sydney Harbour, and a major munitions facility at Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s west.
Thorpe said traditional owners were entitled to prior and informed consent before any sale proceeds.
She said the land did not belong to Defence or the Albanese government and warned against transferring wealth from stolen land into government revenue and private corporate profits.
Thorpe called on the government to work directly with each affected Traditional Owner group.
