Defence

Defence Support Group

Paving the way for HQJOC

A major Defence infrastructure project – the new Headquarters Joint Operations Command facility – has begun taking shape on a 218 hectare site located approximately 11 kilometres south-west of Bungendore in New South Wales which, until recently, was open grazing land. Colin Blair reports.

A graphic illustration of HQJOC, near Bungendore, NSW.

The $300 million facility, Defence’s first Public Private Partnership financial agreement and the largest single construction project in the Australian Capital Territory region since the new Parliament House, was officially launched by Prime Minister John Howard at the sod-turning ceremony at the site on 3 November 2006.

The new HQJOC facility, first announced by the Government in October 2001, will enable more effective planning and command and control of Australian Defence Force operations, particularly overseas deployments.

Pre-construction activities have included fencing of the 218 hectare site, installation of an automatic weather station and ongoing groundwater monitoring and extensive trial tree and shrub plantings.

More recently, extensive Aboriginal and European archaeological investigations have been completed across the site and access routes, resulting in the location of a large number of Aboriginal stone artifacts and the ruins of the former Hibernia Hotel. Details of these findings are available on the Project website at: www.defence.gov.au/id/hqjoc.

Initial works for the intersection of the headquarters primary access road with the Kings Highway was undertaken in late 2006. Air Commodore (AIRCDRE) Brian (Jack) Plenty, until recently the HQJOC Project’s Director-General, said every effort was being taken to limit the impact of the construction of the new intersection on traffic using the Kings Highway, with the majority of the roundabout located to the south of the current highway.

This year will see the completion of the Kings Highway intersection, the 3km primary access road to the site, including the underpass under the Canberra to Goulburn railway line, and the emergency access road to the south of the site. Work is also continuing apace on the new headquarters building, mess, fitness centre and support facilities.

On 13 December 2006 the Minister for Defence, Dr Brendan Nelson MP, announced that ADI Limited (trading as Thales Australia) had won the contract to deliver the integrated suite of command, control, communication, computing and intelligence systems (C4I) for the new headquarters, at a cost of up to $58.5 million.

The installation of the C4I systems, which form a vital element of the new headquarters, is being managed by the Queanbeyan-based company Codarra Advanced Systems. The systems are scheduled to be installed, tested and accredited between July and November next year, after which headquarters staff will commence to step up into the facility.

“Much good work has been done and we look forward to an exciting year of substantial progress with the new headquarters becoming fully operational by the end of next year,” AIRCDRE Plenty said.

Colin Blair is HQJOC Project Public Affairs Officer.

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