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Australian senator threatens legal action over defense plan with Singapore

Xinhua, January 31, 2017 Adjust font size:

Controversial far-right Australian Senator Pauline Hanson said Tuesday that Canberra's plan to force farmers to sell their property to build a training site for Singapore goes against the constitution.

Hanson suggests the plan would fail the public interest test, and furthermore may breach not only the constitution, but also the Commonwealth Land Acquisition Act.

Where exactly is the public purpose as required by the legislation? Hanson said.

The Australian Government entered into an agreement with Singapore, which would see 14,000 soldiers deployed to Australia per year, as part of a joint defense initiative between the two nations.

In order for the bases to be able to cope with the additional strain, the government of Singapore agreed to kick in 2 billion Australian dollars to upgrade the infrastructure at the proposed shared facilities.

The Australian government has been selling the idea to the public, highlighting the boost to local business who will be required to cater for the influx of troops to the area.

Hanson said that the benefits, such as providing the Singaporean troops with transport, food, and other services, are being misrepresented.

"It has been shown that the Singaporean government has already sought expressions of interest from transport companies for the importation of food and ordinances into the area. So where is the 'public purpose'?" Hanson said.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle also spoke out against the sale on Monday, calling for Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to act.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the government in Queensland was angry about the manner in which the ADF has so far handled the acquisition.

This was done without consultation with the local community, Palaszczuk said.

The leader of Queenslands opposition party echoed the sentiments of Palaszczuk, and insisted the ADF had mishandled the situation from the very beginning.

Australias defence and good relations with our allies such as Singapore are of course important, but the process the ADF has undertaken has been confusing, muddled and needs a rethink, Nicholls said.

The ADF has dropped the ball on this, and clearly hasnt communicated the process to the potentially affected landowners, or successfully justified the acquisitions to the wider community.

A decision on the approval to upgrade the lands classification to be suitable for the joint Australian and Singaporean defence training initiatives is set to be handed down by the Australian government later this year. Endit