The Australian military appear to be arrogant to many - because they are charged with protecting Australias security, and they do just that whenever a security threat is present.
In many cases, their actions appear heavy-handed - and under some circumstances, they are. But that's their job.
During WW2, the Australian military did many outrageous and heavy-handed things.
They stopped civilians driving trucks and commercial vehicles in the streets and confiscated their vehicles - and therefore their liveihoods - without anything more than promising the owners the Govt would send them a cheque for the Govt-assessed value of the vehicle.
The problem was the truck and commercial vehicle owners couldn't find replacements for their vehicles, so they nearly always lost out heavily.
There was no compensation for lost earnings due to this heavy-handed military requisitions action.
The landholders at Tocumwal in 1942 weren't even advised the Govt had confiscated their land for a major air base.
The first the land owners knew, was they found people cutting and rolling up their fences, prior to earthmoving equipment arriving to build runways and hangars and military buildings on their land.
Shortly after this heavy-handed takeover, the landowners were presented with official Govt orders to leave their homes - and they were given 24 hrs to collect their basic personal possessions, to get out, and to find another home and another way to earn a living.
Yes, there was a War on, and things were pretty desperate - but the Australian military acted with pretty extreme heavy-handedness in that era - because they were charged with defending Australia, and whatever it took to carry out that defence, was done - with no niceties.
So, with this background, this security attitude continues to this day within the Australian military.
They will not give up their hold on what they regard as important military assets and reserved areas, because they firmly believe they will be needed again one day, in the case of another 1942-type event.