By Ann Marie Angebrandt
GROWING rumours about the future of Point Cook and Laverton RAAF bases have the community and politicians demanding answers.
Lalor MP Julia Gillard raised the matter in Federal Parliament last Wednesday and called on the government to announce specific plans.
She asked if operations at Laverton base were to be merged into those at Point Cook under a plan drawn up more than a decade ago.
“I would like to be assured that the RAAF will consult and engage stakeholders and interest groups to ensure an optimum outcome for Point Cook,” she said.
Several Point Cook based aircraft enthusiasts and tourism operators were last week told they had until 12 September to vacate four hangars on the southern tarmac that some of them had used for decades.
Defence Department spokesman Michael Weaver said the tenants were asked to leave the hangars because they were structurally unsound and should not continue to be used.
The area is part of the base’s historical precinct.
Mark Pilkington, former president of the now disbanded Point Cook Preservation Action Group, said he feared the RAAF had plans to push civil aviation off the base.
“It looks like the intention to set up Point Cook as a civilian airfield over time has been binned,” Mr Pilkington said.
“The air force appear to be using the argument that if something is unsafe they can remove it without consultation.”
Mr Pilkington said he was also concerned that a management plan for the future of Point Cook RAAF base prepared last year by Woodhouse International was still not available.
The future of the base has been under consideration for more than a decade.
In 2003, the government announced its intention to sell the base, but retain a heritage precinct.
The Defence Department reversed the decision in 2004, saying it would maintain ownership of the whole base under a Trust management.
Since the end of 2005, the government has announced an RAAF advisory council will replace the Trust.
