De-Anne Kelly (Dawson, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

It is a very good initiative, achieved by the hard work of government members who have lobbied the minister. This ensures that the benchmark for the period of public consultation in the development of statutory planning documents at the leased federal airports is one of the longest, when compared with other jurisdictions.

Further amendments have been mooted during discussions with the opposition spokesman on the bill, which the government will not be supporting. One is a requirement that the Department of Transport and Regional Services employ town planners. The assessment of a major development requires a myriad of skills, including aviation and environment. While the minister’s department does employ some town planners, expert advice is also sought from external sources as and when appropriate.

With regard to issuing a statement of reasons when a local planning authority’s recommendations are overlooked, it should also be noted that there are established appeal mechanisms to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal provided for in the Airports Act and that a request for a statement of reasons can be made under the AAT Act should application be made to the tribunal to review an approval or nonapproval.

With respect to removal of the current deemed approval provision, having the deemed approval provision ensures that a decision will be made which benefits the community, and the proposed stop-the-clock provisions will help ensure that the minister has all the relevant material to make an assessment before the time limit expires.

The opposition have also suggested that the minister address in approval conditions any impact on off-airport infrastructure. In response, I draw their attention to the strict environmental conditions which have been placed on a number of approved developments: for example, the brickworks at Perth Airport and the international terminal gateway upgrade at Brisbane airport, as well as the traffic mitigation measures developed with regard to the Essendon airport outlet centre, Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport international terminal precinct works, the Melbourne Airport Business Park and the brickworks at Perth Airport.

With regard to the brickworks, BGC Australia Pty Ltd and the airport lessee, Westralia Airports Corporation, were also required to negotiate contributions to the cost of road maintenance arising from access to the site by heavy vehicles. It is the minister’s understanding that this agreement has been reached. Further, in response to calls to make sure that airport lessees are meeting their obligations to make rate-equivalent payments, it should be noted that each airport lease, rather than the Airports Act, requires the airport lessee to pay a rate-equivalent amount on certain parts of the airport site to local councils. I have encouraged all parties to seek to put in place long-term agreements. The Department of Transport and Regional Services has been working constructively in recent times with councils and airports to ensure lease obligations are being complied with.

Overall, this balanced package of amendments to the original bill not only promotes the ongoing development of our major airports but ensures that a system is in place that provides for effective stakeholder consultation and communication. I commend the bill to the House.

Question put:

That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Martin Ferguson’s amendment) stand part of the question.

See this speech in context