[Peetwo]

Where there is a will, there is a way.

After the tussle in Tamworth....   

Tamworth Edition Of Q&A Postponed After Barnaby Joyce And Tony Windsor Punch On In Car Park

"I'm pretty sure Barnaby was concussed at some point,"



6 June, 2015. 18:34
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and his sworn personal and political rival, Tony Windsor have spent the last 45 minutes ‘stinking on’ in the Tamworth Town Hall car park, it has been confirmed.

This breaking news comes via ABC North-West NSW, who were the first to clarify that tonight’s New England edition of Q&A has been pushed back by half an hour due to the unruly behaviour of both Federal candidates...

...and the stoush was continued as a war of words in the ABC Q&A seession in the Tamworth Town Hall.
At one point there was an interesting segment where BJ soft-cocked a question on the Federal Government's ability to stop coal seam gas exploration on the Liverpool plains. BJ basically iterated that Feds were powerless to stop such potential projects as the primary responsibility for these decisions was the State government's. 
This however was subsequently refuted by Tony Windsor as being not entirely true, see here: 

I have made my task to do whatever is within my power to assist and if we just look at the facts, of course ... it was the Labor Party that gave out the mining leases on the Liverpool plains."

Joyce told the audience that the federal government was often constrained in acting to prevent mining on agricultural land because it was a state issue.

But Windsor said the Commonwealth could act if it really wanted to.

‏@QandA 15h15 hours ago

The water trigger have some power of approval, says @TonyHWindsor. @Barnaby_Joyce discusses mining approvals #QandAhttp://snpy.tv/1XwI8wD 

{Watch video linked to this tweet.. https://twitter.com/QandA/status/739785842428776448 }

Q&A - Highlight
The water trigger have some power of approval, says @TonyHWindsor. @Barnaby_Joyce discusses Santos #QandA - Watch more at abc.net.au/qanda

"The federal government can stop those developments," he said.

"There is a process that can, in fact, work, and it's an objective process. Both
Minister Joyce and Minister (Greg) Hunt have been complicit by neglect in terms of this particular issue."

There was also mention of when the Federal government in similar circumstances was able to stop the proposed sand mining of Fraser Island in 1991, by not approving the export licence of the mining company and then declaring Fraser Island a national park & World heritage site.

These examples got me thinking about the plight of secondary airports and how similar statements by previous governments, of both persuasions, stating limited powers under the Airports Act to control leasehold owners planned non-aviation developments and by definition contrary to the Act.

Referencing the excellent revised Phelan paper here:

The link – HERE - will give you view of a Paul Phelan essay which was drafted some time ago now; but the predictions and forecast have been proven.  

Author’s Preface (May 2016)

This analysis was originally prepared in 2010 to assist petitioners to (then) Infrastructure Minister Albanese in a similar matter to the one now before the AAT . As such it represents a snapshot in time 2010 in relation to events which in multiple ways have been employed to circumvent the protections provided to secondary airport and local ownership airport users under the Airport Local Ownership Plan, Lease contracts and deeds of transfer. The analysis has been modified only to the extent that the section headed “Jandakot” and the first line of the Introduction below have been updated to reflect related situations and events.

Most of the situations identified in this study still exist at various airports, and in the main the industry attributes them to the inertia of the responsible department through its failure to enforce the terms of lease or transfer as applicable.

Worth a read – if you still need an aerodrome to conduct your business.

Summary.

Clearly the airports cannot be trusted to be their own regulators. Dumping the quasi-government powers that the FAC held straight over to the managements of the privatised airports was a ludicrously incompetent act, and allowing this ever-worsening situation to continue, further demonstrates the ineptitude of successive responsible administrations.

The Commonwealth has clearly failed adequately and effectively to monitor the activities of organisations who control both GAAP and ALOP airports. This failure extends over the present and previous two governments and to the relevant Ministers and their departments throughout that period.

The Roofing Insulation debacle, and the educational building program have nothing on this series of failures. The current Minister and his department now have a duty to restore the nation’s airports to a status which meets the requirements set out in the legislation, published policies and lease documents already in place.

They also have the tools to do so, and ongoing neglect of their obligations would represent a grave breach of the respective obligations of the public officials involved. 

Definitely a must read:-

Within that paper there was a clear example of where, if a Minister of the Crown was ready willing & able, the government of the day, if so motivated, could effect a proposed development or redevelopment plan of a secondary airport or ALOP leasehold owner:

Jandakot
Now cited as Australia’s busiest general aviation airport, Jandakot was saved by a most uncharacteristic political intervention. In 2006 airport tenants became concerned at announcements that the airport head-lessees were planning to shut down the airport and move it to a new location considerably further from Perth, obviously in preparation for converting the entire landholding to commercial real estate.

The airport “owners” had cited the closeness of Jandakot to Perth International which they said would mean that continued operations at Jandakot would pose air traffic management problems, particularly with the introduction of the larger Airbus A380, Which in fact has better performance than a B747-400 under comparable conditions.

In a very straight-to-the-point latter, the (then) minister Mark Vaile wrote to Ascot Capital Limited[1], the head lease owners, suggesting that they should forget the proposal and get on with meeting their obligations under the Act:

Should you wish to proceed with developing the airport development and relocation proposal, Ascot Capital Limited should not assume any right to re-develop the current site. The Jandakot airport site would be subject to the Commonwealth Property Disposals Policy, which, except in very limited and specific circumstances, requires a sale on the open market for full market value with the proceeds to the Australian Government. The policy does not provide any opportunity for a land-swap or similar negotiated arrangements as may be contemplated in the proposal put forward by Ascot Capital………..
…..the airport site is Commonwealth land with JAH holding a 99 year lease to run an airport on the site. In the absence of a much more convincing case to the contrary, the Government remains committed to the Jandakot airport site and is of the view that the long-term airport lease on the existing site should remain.

No indication should at this time be given that the Australian Government is in any way inclined to support the proposal to relocate Jandakot Airport. I would like to restate the Australian Government’s position that JAH proceed with implementing the approved Master Plan for Jandakot airport and operating the airport in accordance with the Airports Act 1996.

In effect, Minister Vaile said he would enforce the provisions of the Airport Act, if here, why not at all the other airports?

It is perfectly within the authority and the duty of the government and the Minister to deliver similar messages to the head-lessees of Archerfield, Bankstown, Moorabbin and Parafield.

---

[1] See Appendix II

Unfortunately the current incumbent miniscule was quite obviously appointed to act as Barnaby Joyce's photogenic filter and nothing more; and is subsequently way too busy selfying himself around the countryside to give a rat's arse.

This means the likes of the Murky Machiavellian and his minions will be equally less likely to give a rat's about the current disturbing plight & decline of our secondary airports - yes indeed another lap round the mulberry bush...


MTF...P2