People who live there.
Wasn't the idea to have military super bases? When this tender was under construction, East Sale was nominated by some DOD training big wigs to be the training super base...probably because many of the influential retired ex CFS blokes have bought farms and houses down that way.
Then recently, the Gubmint said they didn't want super bases because they realised what the political fall out would be when places like Pearce and Richmond "had" to go.
Sale may well be a nice place for families and CFS types. If VH-XXX's selection criteria for a good place is
To put it into perspective it has McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bill, Subway, LaPorchetta, a shopping centre with Target, Dick Smith and a hardware store to rival Bunnings. I can think of much worse places to be based!
On those criteria, Tamworth is a better place by far. Last I looked, Tamworth had 3 Macdonalds, 3 KFC, 2 Subway, a new Oporto, 2 Red Roosters, a brilliant main street, 4 large shopping centres/areas with Target, K-Mart, Big W, Dick Smiths...and a real Bunnings!
People like to live in Tamworth. That includes many serving RAAF folk!
As with Sale, some don't like it in Tamworth.
Why not Sale? Most servicemen don't want to get sentenced to CFS or the other training units based there. Let's face it, whilst important, the various training functions performed at Sale are hardly mainstream military so only certain people will want to go there. I did not like my times in Sale because it was too cloudy, too cold, too windy, too wet and too far away from where I wanted to be. (If weather is the defining criteria, then Tamworth wins again.) Adding BFTS to Sale would just add some more people who can't wait to get away, along with those who want to stay because they become settled.
Similarly, the BFTS at Tamworth is not mainstream military, just an important training function. NB: There are now 10 years worth of settled serving RAAF folk along with those who have retired in the area and got jobs at BAE.
Remember, getting people to volunteer for instructor duties at BFTS is much harder than getting them over to Pearce. That relates more to the job than the location. Despite the rose tint hindsight view of people talking about Point Cook, it was never a highly favoured military posting for the same reason (along with the low performance aeroplanes, hard course, crap weather and the close proximity of the sewage works.)