Jabbawocky,
I appreciate your position, and in fact I think the Wagner's are on to a good concept here, he certainly has the support of the community, which is convinced it needs a new airport.
But I'm told hundreds of million dollars have been spent on Oakey over the years and that Oakey airspace is unique in Australia - optimised for helo training. We are now cheerfully suggesting government spends that money again because a private company bought some land 10km away from the base and might pay some taxes on future profit.
Good luck to Wagner's, but if CASA kills their proposal, perhaps we could blame a lack of aeronautical chart reading skill rather than blaming Defence for owning an airfield since 1942 and operating the airspace around it for decades.