The Future

In about 3 months we must decide whether we will stay or go, This has been brought about by the decision by Defence to de-commission 395 houses on our doorstep without any consultation or any satisfactory reasons. As a business we depend on these families for our livelihood and their removal is catastrofic for us, we are not alone in this and are trying to fight this as we go.

If we cannot gain assurances before the end of the year as to the future of these houses then we will have to close our doors, this business has been here for over 40 years, but it does need the families to survive.

We discovered something was afoot when we had serious losses in our retail area, I initiated a check to see how many houses were vacant on the RAAF Base Patch, I discovered there where 100 houses vacant, this came as quite a shock as we had no idea that Defence was de-commisioning these houses at all.

Whats more they had an information forum on Dec 9 in Darwin but failed to inform any Interested parties, including any of the local businesses or local residents including Raaf personell.
We have contacted Sen John Faulkners office and he palmed us off on Allan Griffin MP who sent us a letter stating that this what they were going to do and basically nothing else.

The issue for Defence is apparently the new F-35 Fighter that is on order, apparently it is about 2-3 times louder than the current jets and will be to loud for defence personell. Not that unreasonable, except that a considerably large number of existing private housing falls under the same criteria and they were completely unaware of this problem as well.

There are some things about this process that stinks of beuracratic bungling, the planes will be based in Tindal, not Dawin as Damian Hale MP stated,  to start with and will at best be seen in Darwin 7 days per year according to current statistics and projections, currently Defence aircraft only make up 1.85% of all traffic in and out of Darwin, and they are mostly Logistics (C17, C130, AWACS, Refuelers etc). Every 2 years Pitch Black is held and the main aircraft based here are not Australian but foreign fighter aircraft participating in the exercise, careful planning by Defence (yes they are capable of it) ensure that the noise is kept to a minimum.

This in itself is not the only anomalie in their aguement, the houses are now out of Specification for DHA and they want to build elsewhere, there policy is about community intergration, no problems there, except that they have about $200 million worth of Land already developed and with some clever planning and some clear thinking you stop the waste of 395 homes and still maintain your policy.
Darwin is in a major housing crisis and new housing coming on line to slow and way to expensive for what it is, why not recycle what you have and not waste it. If DHA are determined to continue on their way then offer them to the public and Territory housing therefore relieving pressure on the public housing market quickly and more on the private market later as DHA move out over the next 3-5 years, this would fix 2 problems straight away for defence, not having to worry about the houses and the windfall from selling them, especially when they are trying to cut their budget at the moment.

Their is plenty of information on the noise issues with the new plane, readings taken from Elgin airbase in the US where they have been testing the F-35 have indicated that the plane is 2-3 times louder on takeoff and landing, this is going to be a problem all over the world where this plane will eventually go, already in some countries they already moving communities with full consultation and compensation, I believe that is not necessary here in Darwin as we will not have them based here but only visiting.

Currently there are 102 houses vacant on the patch and we expect another 50 to become vacant before the end of the year, this not good for any business and especially one that has been here for over 40 years, we just wanted some consultation from Defence, this would have allowed us time to make better decisions, now I will probally lose the lot, Time will tell………. but not much!

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