Defence's $3 billion property sell-off: why Victoria Barracks Sydney is fighting back, and the 16 Victorian sites also on the list

By The Rundowns News Desk · Published 1 November 2026

The fight over Victoria Barracks in Sydney has become one of the loudest cross-party campaigns of the year, with former prime ministers, the NSW Premier, the Greens, One Nation and the RSL all against the sale. But the Paddington base is just one of 67 Defence properties the federal government plans to offload, and 16 of them are in Victoria, including Victoria Barracks Melbourne, RAAF Williams at Point Cook and Fort Queenscliff. Here's what's being sold, why, and what's still undecided.

What's happening

An independent Defence Estate Audit found many Defence sites were underused, ageing or no longer matched what the military needs. It identified 68 properties. The Department of Finance says the government will keep one and divest the rest. Finance will lead the sale of 46 owned and 12 leased properties, and Defence is handling the other sites itself.

The audit report estimates the program could raise about $3 billion, mostly from 26 large metropolitan sites valued at $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion. It also warns of upfront costs of about $1.2 billion for relocating staff, cleaning up contamination and meeting heritage obligations, and says its valuations are preliminary and could change significantly.

In parliament on 26 October, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the cost of maintaining the underused sites was estimated to exceed $2 billion over 25 years, "with no direct contribution to capability outcomes" (Hansard). Defence Minister Richard Marles has said keeping Victoria Barracks Sydney as a Defence site would cost $200 million over the next decade (ABC).

Why Victoria Barracks Sydney became the flashpoint

The barracks in Paddington dates to the 1840s and covers about 13 hectares, and it has been an active Army base for more than a century. The ABC says it carries 12 Commonwealth Heritage listings.

On Sunday 25 October about a thousand people rallied in Moore Park against the sale, according to AAP. Former prime minister John Howard called the site "a precious, irreplaceable, not-for-sale national asset", as reported by both AAP and the Sydney Morning Herald. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called it a "rotten decision" (SMH). AAP reports that an opposition-backed petition has passed 119,000 signatures. NSW Premier Chris Minns, a Labor leader, wants the decision reversed and is backing a state heritage listing (ABC, AAP). The SMH quotes NSW Veterans Affairs Minister David Harris as saying blocking the sale is "a difficult proposition because the Commonwealth has constitutional powers on these sites".

Meanwhile, the move is going ahead. Defence sources told the ABC that staff are "packing boxes" with the aim of having everyone out by Christmas. Most personnel will go to Randwick Barracks and some temporarily to Defence Plaza Sydney, a leased CBD office tower. The SMH says up to 600 occupants are affected, including active personnel, a dozen Defence families, public servants, reservists and cadets. The future home of the Army Museum of NSW, now on the site, hasn't been confirmed.

The government's line is that the heritage buildings are protected by law and will stay. At a February doorstop, Marles said the site would move to Finance "over the next two years", and that the outcome "needs to be one which clearly retains these incredible buildings". Albanese argued in parliament that opening the site up would give ordinary people access to it.

The 16 Victorian sites on the list

The Department of Finance lists these Victorian properties. Descriptions are drawn from the ABC's February breakdown and the audit report.

• Victoria Barracks Melbourne (Southbank, 5.7 hectares): it hosted wartime cabinet meetings during World War II, and its earliest bluestone buildings date from the 1850s. Most staff are due to move to new CBD facilities. The nearby Repatriation Clinic at 310 St Kilda Road, a 1937 heritage building vacant since 1998, is listed with it.
• RAAF Williams, Point Cook: established in 1913 as the Australian Flying Corps flight school. Staff will move to other bases, including Laverton.
• RAAF Williams, Laverton: partial. Vacant land and the golf course will be sold, and training facilities kept.
• Fort Queenscliff: currently a cadet training facility and museum.
• Defence Site Maribyrnong: a 127-hectare former explosives and research site, vacant since 2006. Marles has said contamination means it is years away from being sellable.
• Training depots at Carlton, Sandringham and St Kilda: trainees will move to facilities in Oakleigh and the CBD.
• Geelong: Newland Barracks (1870s), the Air Force Cadet Unit and the leased Training Ship Barwon, which will consolidate into a new multi-use Geelong facility.
• Latchford Barracks, Bonegilla, near Albury-Wodonga (220 hectares).
• Kyneton Training Depot: vacant since 2020 because of structural problems.
• HMAS Cerberus (golf course and off-base land, Mornington Peninsula) and Swan Island (golf course, Bellarine Peninsula): partial. The bases' core facilities stay.

Victoria Barracks Melbourne, Point Cook and Fort Queenscliff are all heritage-protected. The audit report says heritage obligations will be explored with future owners "as a condition of sale", and that arrangements to keep existing museums on the sites will be looked at.

Why it matters

• Housing: some sites could become homes. Albanese has pointed to housing plans for sites in Hobart and Adelaide (Hansard). Community Housing Industry Association Victoria told the ABC in February that about 20 per cent of suitable sites should go to social housing. Marles said then that the focus would be "the best opportunity for a return to the Commonwealth", while acknowledging some sites made sense for housing.
• Cadets and reservists: RSL national president Peter Tinley told the ABC that about 2,600 cadets use the affected facilities nationally.
• Heritage and public access: heritage listing limits what a buyer can do, but it doesn't guarantee public access or museum space. That depends on sale conditions that haven't been published yet.
• Timeframes are long: Marles said in February that three of the listed sites had already been sold, but Maribyrnong has been on a disposal list since 2010 (ABC). Many Victorian sites could take years.

What's next

Sydney personnel are due out of Victoria Barracks by Christmas, and then the site moves to Finance for sale planning. No sale dates or buyers have been announced for the Victorian sites. Watch for whether the NSW heritage listing push, or pressure across party lines, changes Canberra's position. We'll update this explainer if the government changes course or Finance announces terms for any Victorian property.

The site list comes from the Department of Finance and the Defence Estate Audit report. Valuations are the report's preliminary estimates. Claims about the Sydney relocation are attributed to the ABC and SMH. Rally details are confirmed by AAP and the SMH.