Bob Debus — Opposes the sale of HMAS Penguin.

The Hon. Bob Debus AM made the following statement opposing the sale of HMAS Penguin on 5 October 2026.

“I was Minister for Environment in NSW 1999/2007, so responsible for Sydney Harbour National Park when the Harbour Federation Trust was created and the two began to work together. I was also a board member of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) based at Chowder Bay 2015/19. The essential purpose of the Harbour Trust is to conserve former military sites for the benefit of the national estate. The proposal now to sell some existing and adjacent military land, HMAS Penguin, of very high conservation value for housing development is an unbelievable travesty. It is a denial of history, a destructive action made in apparent ignorance of the national heritage values established on a bipartisan basis by governments thirty years ago when preserving lands on iconic Middle Head and Sydney Harbour.”

THE HON. BOB DEBUS AM