Could the government’s military sell off see Garden Island on the cruise agenda?

By David Jones, who was spokesman for Carnival Australia for 13 years.

In recent years, one battle — convincing the Royal Australian Navy to share its Garden Island base — has had no willing commanders-in-chief. 

Federal and state governments and the cruise industry itself pretty much decided that winning over the navy had as much chance as a snow storm in downtown Sydney at the height of summer. 

It ain’t going to happen so let’s get Garden Island off the war-gaming table. 

Call me an eternal optimist but have the chess pieces for this battle of wills changed with Canberra’s plan to sell off nearly $2 billion worth of Defence real estate including the wonderful Victoria Barracks in Sydney?

The planned property sale has been characterised as “taking on the military establishment”. 

And to be clear, the degree of difficulty of taking things away from our defence boffins is no small deal. It’s a battle royal. 

So, how could Garden Island and cruise ships get into the defence real estate mix? Well, if the Government is prepared to go to war, figuratively, to sell off historic but relatively unused property, why not open another front?

It would seem to be a perfect time to let the Navy know that it will be sharing its home with cruise ships to alleviate demand for berths at the peak of the summer cruise season. 

We all know it can be done. Sydney remembers Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 berthing at Garden Island — successfully — on three separate occasions in 2007, 2008 and 2009. 

Remembering 2007 as the year Queen Mary 2, on her maiden visit to Sydney, combined with the last call of the venerable QE2, brought the city to a standstill. 

I remember being at Garden Island for Queen Mary 2’s 2009 visit and taken by the passive aggression to overt hostility displayed by some naval personnel at the base. 

A cruise ship even of the stature of the Cunard flagship wasn’t at all welcome. 

There’s no reason to think the battle for Garden Island would be any easier in 2026 even if Canberra decided to have a crack at it in between property sales. 

But a successful renewed campaign would have some interesting outcomes. First, there would be a solution to the port infrastructure challenge east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

We would no longer have to wait with baited breath for the outcome of the NSW Government’s review of potential Sydney Harbour berthing solutions. 

No longer would we need to wonder, “will they, or won’t they?” put Sydney’s next cruise terminal in Port Kembla adding more big trucks and cars travelling up and down Mount Ousley. 

Yarra Bay and its surrounds could finally completely relax that cruise ships will never be coming to their Botany Bay neighbourhood. 

Okay, I’m being a bit cheeky about the Navy tolerating anything other than ships with grey hulls at Garden Island. 

But it would be nice to think Canberra would be up for the fight to support an $8 billion year industry while waiting for the gavel to come down on some choice defence properties. 

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