06-08-2021, 02:35 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-08-2021, 02:43 PM by thorn bird.)
Page 2 of Mondays Australian carried an interesting report by Geoff Chambers which could be equally paralleled by the administration and oversight of Australia's secondary airports.
Some key quotes from the article from witnesses at senate estimates.
"Coal miners have launched a campaign targeting the “non-existent” regulatory oversight of the Port of Newcastle, as Coalition MPs ramp up attacks on the key export facility's Chinese ownership structure."
"So they privatise a monopoly without any regulatory oversight."
"And what happened was as soon as they were privatised they ramped up fees by up to fifty percent"
Sound familiar? only difference is on the aviation side is that the ultimate goal is to completely remove aviation from secondary airports in favour of industrial development.
Secondary airports used to be managed by a government entity The FAC, who returned a modest profit of around thirty million dollars a year to the government, rents were affordable and lease terms long enough to provide security of tenure to grow a business. When privatisation was mooted industry was assured the airports act and the head leases would protect the airports for aviation use. What has occurred is so far from that notion as to be inutile.
The Airports Act prohibits foreign entities from owning airports, yet today they do.
The airport Act prohibits trusts from owning airports, yet today they do.
The airport Act Prohibits development sharks from owning or operating airports, yet today they do.
The head leases required the airports to be retained as they were when the leases were signed, yet today the are not.
Given the secondary airports were almost given away, and considering the billions of dollars to be made from their exploitation by development sharks, could one be forgiven for believing some pretty shady deals were done?
Three airports in the Sydney basin sold for about $250 million one of which was allowed to be sold freehold for around the same amount, so basically the Lease holders received all their money back getting two airports for free.
Bankstown Airport alone was valued by the State government at over a Billion Dollars. Was $250 million a fair price?
Is this an indication that the Commonwealth bureaucrats that signed off on the deal were unimaginably inept, or utterly incompetent, or worse corrupt?
The development sharks involved in the airports management and operation used their monopoly position to aggressively pursue rent increases, sometimes of thousands of percent, terms of tenure so short no business in their right minds would consider establishing any from of business for future growth. Their predatory behaviour has been ignored by successive governments as aviation has been driven from their airports opening the way for large scale industrial development, the very safety of air navigation severely compromised as massive structures have been erected over closed runways and taxiways, covered by contaminated fill with no proper environmental scrutiny. Local roads already gridlocked with traffic made worse by countless trucks.
History will tell us that privatisation of vital National infrastructure is a recipe for disaster, unfortunately by then it will be too late.
Some key quotes from the article from witnesses at senate estimates.
"Coal miners have launched a campaign targeting the “non-existent” regulatory oversight of the Port of Newcastle, as Coalition MPs ramp up attacks on the key export facility's Chinese ownership structure."
"So they privatise a monopoly without any regulatory oversight."
"And what happened was as soon as they were privatised they ramped up fees by up to fifty percent"
Sound familiar? only difference is on the aviation side is that the ultimate goal is to completely remove aviation from secondary airports in favour of industrial development.
Secondary airports used to be managed by a government entity The FAC, who returned a modest profit of around thirty million dollars a year to the government, rents were affordable and lease terms long enough to provide security of tenure to grow a business. When privatisation was mooted industry was assured the airports act and the head leases would protect the airports for aviation use. What has occurred is so far from that notion as to be inutile.
The Airports Act prohibits foreign entities from owning airports, yet today they do.
The airport Act prohibits trusts from owning airports, yet today they do.
The airport Act Prohibits development sharks from owning or operating airports, yet today they do.
The head leases required the airports to be retained as they were when the leases were signed, yet today the are not.
Given the secondary airports were almost given away, and considering the billions of dollars to be made from their exploitation by development sharks, could one be forgiven for believing some pretty shady deals were done?
Three airports in the Sydney basin sold for about $250 million one of which was allowed to be sold freehold for around the same amount, so basically the Lease holders received all their money back getting two airports for free.
Bankstown Airport alone was valued by the State government at over a Billion Dollars. Was $250 million a fair price?
Is this an indication that the Commonwealth bureaucrats that signed off on the deal were unimaginably inept, or utterly incompetent, or worse corrupt?
The development sharks involved in the airports management and operation used their monopoly position to aggressively pursue rent increases, sometimes of thousands of percent, terms of tenure so short no business in their right minds would consider establishing any from of business for future growth. Their predatory behaviour has been ignored by successive governments as aviation has been driven from their airports opening the way for large scale industrial development, the very safety of air navigation severely compromised as massive structures have been erected over closed runways and taxiways, covered by contaminated fill with no proper environmental scrutiny. Local roads already gridlocked with traffic made worse by countless trucks.
History will tell us that privatisation of vital National infrastructure is a recipe for disaster, unfortunately by then it will be too late.