Backlash Forces State to Keep Sydney Barracks Public

Former prime minister John Howard accused the government of “indifference to our proud national and military history” at a protest against the planned sale of Victoria Barracks in Sydney. After widespread backlash, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the heritage-listed site would remain in public hands.

The decision changes the proposed fate of one site in a government program that had put 67 Defence properties up for sale. An independent Defence estate audit in February 2026 set out a program intended to generate $1.8 billion for the government. That plan put a public site with a 166-year history on the path to sale. Protests and political condemnation followed.

A public site, a government decision

Victoria Barracks Sydney, Victoria Barracks Melbourne, Fort Queenscliff and Point Cook (RAAF Williams) will move from Defence to the Finance department. Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher were due to provide an update on the Defence estate audit later that day. The transfer leaves decisions about administering the properties with the government, not the public.

Albanese said: “Victoria Barracks Sydney has a special place in our nation's history — and we will be keeping it in public hands.” He also said: “This program creates opportunities to open Defence's historic sites and buildings to the public, and to commemorate our nation's history.” Public backlash helped force a change to the proposed sale of the Sydney site. The statement also casts public access as an opportunity the government can grant.

The backlash crossed established political lines. The Coalition, Greens, teal independents and One Nation condemned the planned sale, while Howard attended a recent protest. Their opposition brought the proposal into public view, but the account doesn’t say who organized the protests or name other participants. There’s no reported community-run plan for the site—only the government’s decision to keep it publicly owned.

Who controls the estate

Defence is the country's biggest landholder, with 70 major bases and 3.8 million hectares of land. The proposed sales formed part of a wider review of that estate, and the government framed them as a way to generate $1.8 billion. Those figures show the scale of land and property under institutional control. They don’t identify how much any individual site would have sold for.

Marles said Defence would move personnel from the properties and open the sites to the public. He said Defence sites needed to be “fit for purpose,” adding: “Given the strategic landscape we face, we cannot afford to be wasting money. We need to look at how we best use defence money for defence capability.” The stated priority is directing public resources toward defence capability, while moving personnel and opening the sites would change how the properties are used.

Gallagher said the heritage of each site was protected by law and that public ownership would preserve the sites for future generations. The account gives no details about what public access would look like or what arrangements would govern the sites after the departmental transfer. What it does record is a reversal: the government’s sale plan met protest and condemnation, and Sydney’s Victoria Barracks will remain in public hands.