Airport Privatisation – Exactly Who Benefits… Minister?
An AviationAdvertiser study has revealed growing nationwide alarm over the future of provincial, rural and capital city secondary airports. Not only airport users, but also community figures are now becoming more conscious of the malpractices and neglect that threaten existing airports that form a vital part of the national transport infrastructure.
Airport users blame departmental inertia, indifference, and in some cases negligence, along with political don’t-want-to-know-about-it attitudes, to the plight of these airports.
Hearing aviation’s tales of woe from around the nation, we began documenting some of the worst examples, expanded on them in a brief analysis, and then lent our resources to coordinate an approach to Minister Albanese. Small groups or individuals at five selected locations then quickly collected over 1,000 signatures to a letter to the Minister calling on him to use existing laws and contracts to reverse the rot.
The letter was accompanied by a 24-page study of the airports situation titled Australian airport privatisation: Who benefits? The study, available for download from this web site, details examples of the most common abuses. These include blatant breaches of contract by local governments entrusted with their airports, unlawful sale and misuse of airport land in defiance of their contracts with the Commonwealth, abuses of monopoly in pricing policies, and the destruction of aviation infrastructure both on airports transferred under the Aerodrome Local Ownership Plan and separately the sale of GAAP airports.
The study also highlights the way in which departmental transport bureaucrats have consistently ignored their responsibilities to ensure compliance with the ALOP deeds of transfer and the head leases held by GAAP airport operators.
A copy of Australian airport privatisation: Who benefits? has been sent to every federal parliamentarian this week. In case our representatives are too preoccupied with electoral matters to read it through, industry readers would do well to take a look at the document and write to their own MPs on this vital issue.
Download: Letter to Minister Albanese
Download: Australian Airport Privatisation: Who Benefits?
We invite your thoughts and comments regarding our Letter to Minister Albanese and our Report.
Please use the comments service at the bottom of this article.
I have alwase been opposed to the privatisation of the airports that we owned.
It is about time we as a flying comunity got together to destroy the privatisation and bring back FAC and the yearly fee charged ( I think the last was about $880.00) which covered all airports and do away with all those private companies making millions from charging fees and selling off the the airport land they do not own.
These people have not contributed to any part of aviation except bankrupting long established aviation companies. The list is long starting with Bankstown Airport Ltd – Avdata – Archerfield – ETC
Maybe we could all stop paying airport charges and landing charges on mass, that would bring the matter to a head and then the pollys would have to wake up and consider the ramifications without GA.
GB
This is a disgrace. I undertook much training at Bankstown in the 1980′s and the place was so busy especially at weekends. I visited it recently and it was but a shadow of the way it was. It is sad and a reflection on Governments lack of will to address infrastructure in this country. Overseas GA is still flourishing. Here it is dying. Surely it makes sense for Australia with vast distances between towns, to have a strong GA infrastructure to allow efficient servicing of our outback and regional towns and cities.
Australia is being left behind the rest of the world in growing areas of infrastructure. We used to be world leaders in aviation and education. Sadly not any more.
We have a 3rd scenario at the Hervey Bay Airport in QLD. The airport was handed over in 2006 by the QLD State Government as freehold land to the then Hervey Bay Council, now after amalgamation the Fraser Coast Regional Council. We have been told that this is the only Airport that is in this category? In April the FCRC put all expiring leases out to tender – which they insist is a legal requirement on them under the Local Government Act, although they did apply for and receive an exemption for 1 leaseholder under that Act, the reasons for which have been kept “Confidential” by the Council. There were >>>> leases put to tender. 3 Leases only had more than one bid. There were 2 encumbant lessees who had competition for their leases and we were the only encumbant lessee who had tendered for a new lease to be unsuccessful to retain the lease on which the hangar we own is constructed. The successful tenderer had been trying for approx 5 years to have land leased to him to build a new hangar. We are still waiting to be advised of the date by which we will have to demolish our hangar for the incoming lessee to be able to build his new one (he does not wish to buy ours). Ironically the Council has now told us that land will be released shortly for us to bid on so we will be able to build ourselves a new hangar – exactly what the new lessee has been trying to do for years!
It is a sign of ineffective government that is too scared even to enforce their own legislation. This is not a plea to vote for the coalition, they are the ones that set this in place by selling off the GAAPs, so we can’t expect any relief there either! Our only recourse will be the courts.
Many who know my work understand that airport chaplains are not welcome to conduct vital ministry under airports run by property developers. There have been many folk suffering in various ways and the church will always seek to encourage, support and love such individuals. It is a sad chapter in Australian history to see this kind of support discouraged considering the level of nervous breakdowns, suicide, bankrupt people and social vices that are happening. At Moorabbin we attempted to rally the support using the City of Kingston churches but found it impossible. We moved out of our hangar office and now conduct ministry in other areas using a Camberwell base. It is also very hard to base staff at GA airports since ASIC cards are now required and not everyone can afford or even qualify for one. Take an individual that was a criminal but has now become a Christian. His past record will block access to an ASIC card even though his life is now clean. He can always appeal but this process is very expensive having to use lawyers and tribunals. Fairness in our Australian system went out the window due to this New World Order imposed on us since eventslike 9/11. Those of us in ministry areas have to believe in miracles. For now the biggest will be praying for privatisation to fail and a better system ushered in. I would also like to see justice prevail for all the pain and suffering this has brought along with polarizing many individuals.
Very fitting comments Pastor. The system is just not right and it must be changed.