Barnaby Joyce has stepped in to head off a political headache in the government's most marginal seat, as One Nation and Labor capitalise on the fear and confusion brought about by a multibillion-dollar deal to expand Defence Force training grounds in Queensland.
The Deputy Prime Minister will meet with selected stakeholders and property owners at Shoalwater Bay in Central Queensland, where turmoil over proposed compulsory land acquisitions has created a political headache for the government that threatens to cost the Coalition vital votes in the upcoming state election, and risks at least two federal seats in what is already a tenuous majority.
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The strategic considerations of Singapore
Why is Singapore increasing its troop presence in Australia? Fairfax's defence correspondent David Wroe explains.
Singapore has agreed to jointly fund the estimated $2.25 billion expansion across existing Townsville and Shoalwater Bay facilities, in exchange for training access for just under five months a year. But confusion and a lack of concrete information has seen political opponents exploit fears the land has been sold to Singapore, and properties will be resumed by the government to make it happen.
The Nationals leader is being relied upon to soothe growing anger over the handling of the process, which threatens to continue until the next federal election in 2019, when construction is due to commence.
"What my intent is… is that compulsory acquisitions is not something that we should be looking at," he said ahead of the meeting.
"There are always corners where for instance, you have to put a road in, or you have to put in vital infrastructure, which is just the nature of Australia, the Commonwealth, the government maintains the right for that, but in this instance there has been no compulsory acquisitions and there is no intention of compulsory acquisitions.
"So really what we are talking about is would the government ever exercise its right to go forward on compulsory acquisitions and from my point of view, I don't think there will be a need to."
Mr Joyce said he believed that when Defence released its draft determination on what land would be needed, there would be enough landholders wanting to sell to negate the need for compulsory acquisitions.
"The whole art of politics is there are always going to be problems and no one can avoid problems," he said.
"Problems in this job are always going to arise; it is how you manage them, that's the issue."
There is anger within the Coalition over how Defence Minister Marise Payne's department has handled the deal, following the October 2016 decision between Singapore and Australia to jointly develop military training facilities in central and north Queensland, which will see the number of Singaporean troops training in Australia jump from 6600 to 14,000.
While Australia maintains ownership of the expanded grounds, Singapore, considered one of the nation's strongest allies, will have unilateral access to the facility for 18 weeks of the year, with the remainder available for use by Australian troops, or joint-exercises.
But the plan was announced without detail over what the expansion would mean for property owners, creating confusion over how many properties would be subjected to compulsory land acquisition in one of the nation's most important agricultural regions.
The Katter Party, One Nation and Labor have all mounted campaigns to have the government reconsider the plan, with state LNP leader Tim Nicholls also lobbying the government on behalf of land owners.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told 2GB on the afternoon before Mr Joyce's visit that he believed Ms Payne "has got it underhand", but that the expansion was in the national interest.
"This is the Australian Defence Department seeking to acquire land for the purpose of expanding the training facilities that it uses for our defence forces and what will also be used by the Singaporeans when they visit to do training," he said.
"I can absolutely understand how they [the landowners] feel, I absolutely emphasise with them and that's why it's important that the arrangements that are negotiated are as far as possible, ones which are reached by agreement."
The draft report detailing the footprint needed for the expansions will go to cabinet by the end of the month.