Anti-DHA group thanked

OPPONENTS of Defence House Australia’s controversial Mt Lofty housing development have welcomed news it would be scrapped.

DHA announced on Friday it would rescind its development application with the Toowoomba Regional Council for a 342-lot estate at the former rifle range site, on the Toowoomba Range Escarpment.

Save Mt Lofty secretary Chris Meibusch thanked everyone involved in fighting the application.

“(Thanks) to the many volunteers who letterboxed, photographed, researched, lobbied, organised media, painted signs, wrote so many letters to the editor, ran market stalls, organised international petitions and more,” he said.

While happy with the result Mr Meibusch said the past four years saw a significant waste of taxpayer money.

“DHA prepared and filed over 4000 pages of documents in support of their Mt Lofty residential development – mostly from paid consultants praising the so-called masterplan,” he said.

“We, the taxpayers, paid for this work.”

The Save Mt Lofty group was concerned about the impacts on the koala habitat, the high bushfire risk and soil contamination from the site’s former life a rifle range.

On Friday Groom MP John McVeigh said he urged new

DHA managing director Barry Jackson to reconsider the plan at a meeting in January.

“Roughly six weeks later, he (Jackson) has said they will look at all options, (and) the big plan they had they are not proceeding with,” Mr McVeigh said.

From the beginning Save Mt Lofty saw the project as a failure and Mr Meibusch questioned why it took so long for Mr Veigh to arrive at the same realisation.

“Despite what he says now, John McVeigh thought it was a great idea for four years. He blocked Save Mt Lofty at every turn since 2017,” he said.

Both Mr McVeigh and Mr Meibusch agree on one thing – that the land should be handed to the council.