‘Precious, irreplaceable’: Howard headlines eclectic rally against Victoria Barracks sale

All sorts came to protest the sale of the Victoria Barracks on Sunday.

There were Greens supporters, a large One Nation contingent, people wearing shirts defending the accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith, plenty of Liberal blue bloods (including two former prime ministers), sitting state Labor MPs, defence force members and appreciators of heritage buildings.

If the crowd did not reach the thousands estimated by organisers, there were at least several hundred gathered in the corner of Moore Park in the city’s inner-east, across the road from the sandstone wall of the defence facility.

They praised its history and argued for its ongoing necessity, especially in times of crisis.

“We’re just so sad and angry,” one army officer, who lives and works in the barracks, told this masthead shortly before the speeches began.

Not authorised to speak publicly, she revealed she was due to move out next month, leaving behind a facility where troops had gathered before the Boer War more than 120 years ago, for new digs in a CBD office block.

“It doesn’t achieve that same esprit de corps,” the army officer said.

Former prime minister John Howard took to the stage, declaring himself pro-development but not “at the expense of our history and our soul as a country”.

“We think it is a precious, irreplaceable, not-for-sale national asset,” Howard said of the barracks.

Former head of army Ken Gillespie told the crowd it was wrong to consider the site “surplus real estate”.

“It is a working base of national significance,” Gillespie said. “The burden of proof rests with those who want to sell it. And they have not met that burden.”

The federal government has identified Victoria Barracks as one of 67 Australian Defence Force properties to be sold, generating up to $3 billion in revenue.

The shift will impact up to 600 occupants including active personnel, up to a dozen defence families including those with young children, along with public servants, reservists and cadets.

Under the relocation plan, Forces Command personnel will primarily move to Randwick Barracks. Some staff will temporarily relocate to Defence Plaza Sydney, a commercial office tower leased by Defence under a 10-year, $231 million contract to a Singaporean real estate trust.

But the move is being fought by all sides of politics.

Federal Opposition leader Angus Taylor called it a “rotten decision” on Sunday, appearing at the rally alongside Greens leader David Shoebridge, local independent MPs Allegra Spender and Alex Greenwich, and members of the state Labor government.

NSW Minister for Veteran Affairs David Harris said Premier Chris Minns’ changed his mind about the sale after he met with a group of Vietnam and Korean war veterans.

Blocking the transaction was “a difficult proposition because the Commonwealth has constitutional powers on these sites,” Harris said, but the government was considering its options.

Urging the federal government to intervene, Harris said “it is never the wrong thing to say you got it wrong”.

The rally was a Labor-Liberal co-production, organised by state Labor member for Coogee Marjorie O’Neill and Liberal senator Jess Collins.

It was Collins who questioned the ADF at a senate inquiry into the sale on Thursday, pointing to broad community opposition from heritage groups, local councils, and RSL Australia.

Peter West, acting deputy secretary of Defence’s Security and Estate Group, told the Senate that the overall public sentiment “has not been overwhelmingly positive”.

But West said the barracks’ heritage made it “a challenge to effectively use the site, particularly for modern warfare where we need secure spaces and secure systems.”

While large parts of Sunday’s crowd booed acknowledgements of country, the speakers returned to the theme of history again and again.

They spoke of fallen soldiers, important chapters in the life of the city and the country, and the inadequacy of commemorative plaques compared to the solidity of stone.

“You can’t recapture that history,” said the army officer preparing to move out. “You can’t make it up.”