Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the obligation of airport lessees to pay rates, let me make it absolutely clear that I do not accept that airports should be in any kind of favourable position, in comparison with other landowners, in relation to their obligations to local government to pay rates and other charges. There are sometimes services that are provided by the airport which would otherwise be provided by the council and in those circumstances I think it is reasonable for those kinds of amounts to be discounted. However, the fact that an airport operator may not use the swimming pool or the town hall or something like that is not a valid ground for having a rate reduction. We all know that all of us as ratepayers do not use every single service that a council provides and we do not get a rate reduction from that perspective.

I have been seeking to develop a negotiated solution between the various parties so that there can be a clear understanding of what the obligations are and then a ready acceptance of the requirement to meet those obligations. There are only two airports in Australia that have not been able to reach an agreement with their local councils about the level of rates they should pay. One of those is Adelaide and the other is Perth. In the case of Perth, from memory they have reached agreement with two of their local authorities and with the third one—namely, the City of Belmont—there remains a dispute.

In the case of Adelaide airport, an independent arbiter was put in place to try to establish a successful outcome. He made a recommendation to the Local Government Association of South Australia but, when it came to it, the council was not prepared to accept the arbiter’s ruling. So it has been necessary for my department to seek some additional clarity in relation to the legal position. That is the legal advice that the honourable member for Swan has referred to. Having received that advice, there is a further round of negotiations being undertaken with the Westralia Airports Corporation, and I am optimistic that that will lead to a satisfactory outcome. That outcome will hopefully set in place arrangements that will be accepted by all of the lessees so that rates will be paid without argument in the future.

On the one hand, let me make it absolutely clear that I expect airport lessees to pay their own way. I do not accept that any commercial or other development on airport land should get any kind of a free ride. In other words, a shopping centre built on airport land should pay the same sort of charges as if it were built across the road on land owned by somebody else. That is a fundamental principle. On the other hand, I expect councils to behave reasonably as well and not seek to extract some kind of penalty rental out of a significant business that is creating a lot of jobs in their local government area.

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