Crowd protests proposed Fort Queenscliff sale

Members of the Queenscliff community again protested the proposed sale of the town’s historic Fort Queenscliff, with about 200 people rallying in support of the cause on Sunday.

The Borough of Queenscliffe council has also unanimously resolved its next steps in response to the Albanese government’s proposed divestments of defence sites.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson organised the protest outside Fort Queenscliff on Sunday afternoon, announcing that a future Coalition government would keep the fort and land on nearby Swan Island in Commonwealth hands and not sell either site “not now, not never”.

“We’re hearing lots of motherhood statements but no guarantees,” Senator Henderson said.

“This is a fight we can win [and] we must win for our region, for our town, for our heritage and for our defence capability.”

Other speakers were Queenscliff Community Association (QCA) president, David Connoley; Lucy Croxford from Australian Air Force Cadets; and National Trust of Victoria Geelong and Region branch president David Hobbs.

“There is nothing in the country that matches this iconic fort,” Connoley said, adding Fort Queenscliff was a better example than the forts in Newcastle and Albany.

“It can be opened up and celebrated and accessed by people right across the country.

“We’d [the QCA] like an options analysis, we’d like a full EES [environmental effects statement] on site, we’d like a business case.”

Following the speeches, the crowd formed a human barrier across the gate to Fort Queenscliff.

Donnie Grigau, who will lead a taskforce investigating the sale in a personal capacity and not as a borough councillor or mayor, was an apology at the protest.

The borough has not yet adopted a formal stance on the divestment but at the council meeting on Wednesday last week, Cr Di Rule successfully moved a motion of urgent business with a six-part action plan:

• Endorse a councillor discussion paper
• Promote the councillor discussion paper widely
• Undertake community engagement
• Form an advocacy position based on community feedback
• Write to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles; and Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher, about the borough’s actions, and
• Seek clarity on community participation in the federal process, particularly in relation to heritage preservation and future public access.

“This is not simply a property transaction. It is the transfer of a place of national significance,” Cr Rule said.

“Our role is to ensure that whatever future ownership looks like, the fort’s and the island’s heritage, public value and community benefit are protected in perpetuity.”

She also ruled out the borough buying either Fort Queenscliff or the land on Swan Island.

“Council also wishes to make it clear there’s no capacity for the ratepayers of the Borough of Queenscliffe to purchase or have a financial stake in either of these federal government defense properties now or in the foreseeable future. This is clearly a role for federal and potentially state governments.”

Corangamite Labor federal member Libby Coker has previously said any divestment of Fort Queenscliff “would only go ahead if the purchaser agreed to adhere to the robust heritage protections that are already in place”.