Australia will keep four historic military sites in public ownership after the federal government reversed plans to sell them off, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Sunday, 8 November.

The sites spared from sale are Victoria Barracks in Sydney and Melbourne, Fort Queenscliff in Victoria and RAAF Williams at Point Cook in Victoria. Defence personnel will move out of the sites, which will then be opened up for public access, with the Australian War Memorial helping to tell their military history.

The decision is a partial backtrack on a wider plan to sell or partly sell 67 defence properties that an independent audit found were underused, unfit for purpose and costly to maintain. The sales were expected to raise about $1.8 billion after costs, or $3 billion before costs, to fund military upgrades.

The proposed sale of the heritage sites drew fierce opposition from veterans' groups, including Returned and Services League branches, the Save Victoria Barracks Sydney campaign and former prime ministers Paul Keating and John Howard. Albanese said Sydney's Victoria Barracks, a sandstone complex built between 1841 and 1848 in Paddington, held a special place in the nation's history and would be kept in full public ownership.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the military needed to concentrate its spending on capability and keeping people safe, and that opening the sites to the public would protect and share their history. Eleven of the 67 sites identified for disposal have already been transferred to the Department of Finance, and the government says other sites will still be sold, with some earmarked for housing development. Read the full report from AAP.