RSL Calls for Less Haste With Mass Defence Asset Sell-Off, Points to Historic Value

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles speaks to the press during the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. Pierre Crom/Getty ImagesThe Returned Serviceman’s League (RSL) Australia is urging the federal government to “tap the brakes” on selling off defence assets because “once these sites are gone, they’re gone forever.”On Feb. 4, Defence Minister Richard Marles announced that the Albanese government would undertake the most “significant reform to the defence estate ever” by selling off assets with an estimated windfall of $1.8-3 billion.