[Peetwo]

Miniscule steps into another pile of Horse-pooh -

Whoever was responsible for holding the rope/strings on the photogenic filter, self-appointed selfie King of pollywaffles, Dazzling Dazza and/or his minions over the weekend should be shot at dawn - FDS!

Presumably this somewhat abstract thornbird post...

A spokesman for Bankstown Airport moved to allay concerns about aviation at the site.

“All federal leased airports are required by their lease with the Commonwealth to operate the airport as an airport,” he said.

Yup very true, but the Airport Act and the head leases mandate that all the aviation infrastructure was to be maintained. That the intent of the Act was to reserve airport land for aviation use. So how come you, Mr BAL, closed taxiways, closed runways and costed aviation off the airport so you could take land for your development shark mates to develop.

“Over the years there have been some tenants that have left the airport, through retirement, industry rationalisation, business failure post-GFC or seeking an environment with less compliance issues.”

Oh really, wouldn't have been because rents went up by thousands of percent,and continue to rise. Very short term leases make it almost impossible for any long term aviation industry to develop. Landing fees and parking charges are now the highest in the world resulting in a mass exodus of aircraft to places like Wedderburn, Wollongong, Bathurst, Cessnock.

A spokeswoman for Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester has defended the privatisation.

Well of course he would, his party were the ones who stuffed it up in the first place.

The Murky Mandarin worked out a neat way for the Guvmint to affectively "Borrow Money" without it showing on the books and getting the industry to pay the interest bill.

Wonder if the minister would care to divulge exactly how much tax our privatised airports pay each year. How much of the money the entities who bought the leases borrowed offshore, at what interest rate, and how much of the airports turnover disappears to offshore tax havens every year?

“Non-aeronautical land use and commercial activity is necessary to allow airport lease holders to provide the significant investment necessary to maintain and grow airport and aviation infrastructure, she said.

That statement is inutile. Exactly what have any of the entities who purchased the airport leases put into aviation infrastructure? Aviation Infrastructure has now degenerated to third world standards, our airports voted some of the worst in the world.

Err ..Darren old mate, car parks are not aviation infrastructure. Oh and how was runway 18/36 at Bankstown "Non-Aeronautical" land?

“This investment would not have been possible if these airports remained in Government control or, if Government control was to have been maintained, without changes in the arrangements between the Government and airport users to reflect the market value of airport activity.”

[i][b]Again, an inutile statement. The Commonwealth i.e. the people of Australia owned the airports, DEBT FREE"!!!

They were by and large returning profit to the government.

Maybe Do Nothing Darren could give us some idea of exactly what investments have been made in aviation infrastructure since the airports were privatised?

All the profits from the primaries disappears overseas. How does that benefit the Australian taxpayer?

All the profits from the development sharks biting huge chunks out of airport land at secondary airports disappears overseas,how does that benefit the Australian taxpayer or the Industry?

Bankstown airport used to employ over 8000 people, today less than a few hundred since the industry has been priced off the airport, so the Australian taxpayer doesnt even get the benefit of the taxes they used to pay.

[b]Hell, the NSW government didn't even get the benefit of stamp duty on the leases and a whole heap of subsequent transactions.

For years the airport lessee was charging its tenants for council rates, yet not passing it on to council. How was that benefitting the ratepayers of Bankstown?
[/b]
[b]The whole so called privatisation has been a giant Con, it has neither benefitted the Australian pubic nor the aviation industry.

[i][b]The current Court squabble going on in NSW court regarding Bankstown should wave a flag for do nothing Darren. If the development sharks are prepared to fess up what I'm told could amount to over Sixty Million in legal fees, there's got to be a "Nice little earner" in there. Meanwhile a perfectly good Industry spirals down the gurgler, and industry that could have contributed vastly to Australia for as far as you could see into the future.

A Question for the PM. Mr Turnbull you make statements about supporting Innovation, yet your Bureaucrats with malice and aforethought are suppressing the most innovative industry in the world. Are your words simply rhetoric? or do you mean what you said?, Sir. we are totally confused[/b][/i][/b][/b][/i]

...at lunchtime yesterday was referring to this other Aunty online post or another media outlet version of it:

Airport privatisation and CASA rules hurting businesses, owners and expert says

By Jackson Vernon
Posted yesterday at 11:58amSun 4 Sep 2016, 11:58am

Photo: The owner of this aeroplane repair business at Bankstown Airport says the industry is under threat. (ABC News: Jackson Vernon)

Related Story: International airport, flight school proposed for Renmark

There are growing concerns the general aviation industry in Australia is under threat from what has been described as a "perfect storm of problems".

Key points:

• Air Services Australia figures show small plane movements drop at smaller airports
  
• Expert says general aviation businesses suffering under CASA rules
  
• Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester defends the Bankstown Airport privatisation
  

Dave Pyett, who has run an aeroplane repair business at Bankstown Airport since 1993, said the problems began emerging when the airport was sold off by the federal government in 2003.

"[In] 1993 it was about $23,000 a year for this hangar; [a] World War II shed basically with no improvements, all the improvements we've paid for," he said.

"They've bunged the rent up and now we're paying $110,000 a year for the rent on this place now.

"That's where our money is going — down the dunny."

Figures from Air Services Australia show that small plane movements at the airport have fallen about 20 per cent in the past 10 years.

The falls are even higher at airports across Australia, including a 40 per cent decline at Jandakot Airport in Western Australia and Archerfield Airport in Queensland.

CASA accused of over regulation

Aeroplane Owners and Pilots Association executive director Benjamin Morgan said airports are suffering from privatisation.

"We have seen a large scale decline in the number of flying, training, maintenance, charter support industries at this aerodrome," he said

"There are thousands of people who have lost their jobs and have been driven into bankruptcy as a result of airport privatisation.

Adjunct Professor David Forsyth, who teaches aviation studies at the University of NSW, said general aviation businesses are suffering under rules governed by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

He submitted a report to the federal government in 2014, in which he criticised CASA's "hard-line philosophy".

"In Australia our aviation regulations are too prescriptive, they go down to a level of detail that is not common in other jurisdictions around the world," he said.

"A large part of the recommendations was to do with the regulatory suite to amend the Australian regulations so that they were ... more harmonised with the rest of the world and that they were not so prescriptive."

But Mr Forsyth said most of the recommendations have not been implemented.

"If things don't improve and the regulator doesn't establish that trust and make some changes to the way it regulates... industries in general aviation will continue to move to New Zealand and to other countries rather than be developed in Australia."

Minister defends privatisation of airport

A CASA spokeswoman rejected that the recommendations are not being implemented.

"CASA has made significant progress and is working towards finalising the implementation of these recommendations by the end of the year," she said.

"CASA does not accept that the reduction in general aviation activity can solely be attributed to safety regulations or actions by CASA.

"There are many economic, social and technological factors impacting on the general aviation industry."

Photo: Flight movements at Jandakot Airport in WA have fallen by 40 per cent (ABC)

A spokesman for Bankstown Airport moved to allay concerns about aviation at the site.

"All federal leased airports are required by their lease with the Commonwealth to operate the airport as an airport," he said.

"Over the years there have been some tenants that have left the airport, through retirement, industry rationalisation, business failure post-GFC or seeking an environment with less compliance issues."

A spokeswoman for Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester has defended the privatisation.

"Non-aeronautical land use and commercial activity is necessary to allow airport lease holders to provide the significant investment necessary to maintain and grow airport and aviation infrastructure, she said.

"This investment would not have been possible if these airports remained in Government control or, if Government control was to have been maintained, without changes in the arrangements between the Government and airport users to reflect the market value of airport activity.   Wrong lines miniscule or minion 

 
Fortunately Gobbles put some reasoned rationality into the argument in this choccy frog post...

Of 'making airports great again'.....

There is money to be made from airports. In fact there is more money to be made from keeping/owning airports over a longer period of time rather than flogging them for a quick buck in a fire-sale. The problem is that Governments are useless, incompetent and erratic. Everything they touch turns to complete shit.

When an asset is sold, such as an airport, it's now at the mercy of the hedge funds, superannuation funds, and the parasites such as the JP Morgan types, who gut the asset, slice of pieces and flog the bulk of it to the land development sharks. It's all a sting, and an all too familiar one at that. They never re-invest back into the asset adequately, if at all, and the asset then declines which ultimately affects businesses, the economy, the community.

Why doesn't the Government (individual states or federal) set up a third party company/entity to either buy back or keep and manage existing groups of airports? For pondering purposes let's call it 'Dipshit Pty Ltd'.

The airports could be managed as being seperate from Government, by Dipshit Pty Ltd, and you would have no more stupid bureaucratic policy, no dumbass time wasting procurement bullshit, no doubling and tripling of Board structures and useless executive managers. A group of airports run succinctly by proven industry experts in a way that encourages diversity, business, quality, expansion not contraction, promotes airports as a major link and necessary link in the aviation chain, and ensures they are not molested by the likes of Murky and his corporate capitalist minions.

For example, the Federal government has set up its at-arms-length corporation "Dipshit Pty Ltd" and buys a group of already state or local government owned airports. Let's make the figure 36 for shits and giggles, a mixture of mainline and regional airports. Each airports owner gets paid out (valuations vary depending on the airports location, category and overall value). That leaves a chunk of change for struggling states or local communities to use wisely and invest in infrastructure, pay down debt, that kind of stuff.

Then, the group of airports produce a yearly dividend (again depending on the airports overall value) and a percentage of that dividend annually goes back to the state/community that sold their airport to the third party governemnt corporation that now owns it.

It's doable because you don't have bureaucrats poorly managing the airports. You now have proper management oversight. The better the airport is managed then the better the financial return. The grouping also allows for synergies, greater bartering and bargaining power, a return on investment and again greater power when it comes to seeking capital injections. Much better options than one singular poor little airport trying to cut the mustard in a dog eat dog capitalistic Wall Steet 'bankerised' world (I like that new word!). It keeps the airports in governemnt hands and not in the hands of the blood sucking white shoe brigade parasites on Wall Street and scum sucking hedge fund corporation rapists.

Anyway, these are just a few of my Sunday evening musings. It's not the magic bullet, but there simply has to be a better way?

P_666

MTF? Definitely much, much more...P2