Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to tell a story of this government’s complacency, ineptitude, arrogance and utter disdain for the welfare of the battling families and small businesses in the city of Belmont in my electorate. The facts are simple. In 1996 the federal government privatised Australia’s major airports. That was a good thing, in that it facilitated new investment, infrastructure and better facilities for travellers and local communities and, in so doing, created jobs. Perth Airport was leased to Westralia Airports Corporation. The terms of the lease clearly and unambiguously specified that the Westralia Airports Corporation should pay the equivalent of local government rates to the relevant local authority, in this case the City of Belmont. The rationale for this is clear and correct: businesses, whether they exist on federal land or not, should all be subject to the same taxation regime. This principle is known as competitive neutrality and is at the heart of the national competition policy which was introduced by the former Labor government and fully endorsed and embraced by the Howard government.

Since 1996, the City of Belmont has sought payment from the Westralia Airports Corporation of equivalent local government rates. Until this financial year, the Westralia Airports Corporation fully complied with this requirement and made the payments in full. However, about two years ago, despite the lease being clear and unequivocal, the Westralia Airports Corporation started to agitate and informed the City of Belmont that it was paying more than was appropriate. On the basis of the City of Belmont’s concerns, in June 2004 I put a question on the Notice Paper seeking federal government confirmation that Westralia Airports Corporation, like all airport corporations around the country, should be paying a fee equivalent to local government rates. The then Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the member for Gwydir, with typical disdain, failed to respond to my question. He flagrantly ignored his constitutional requirements to be accountable to this House.

When Minister Truss assumed the portfolio, I resubmitted the questions thinking, perhaps naively, that he would be more assiduous than his predecessor and that he would be concerned about the principles involved in this matter. Of course, I was wrong. There has been not a yelp from this National Party minister. So last month I wrote to the minister seeking his urgent confirmation that Westralia Airports Corporation should rightly pay its due. Of course, he has not responded again, despite repeated contact from me and my office. I was concerned—and remain so—that the families and small businesses in the Belmont area would end up carrying the can while this multimillion dollar business shirked its legitimate responsibilities. Sadly, it seems that my concern was well placed. Despite having paid what was due in each and every year since 1996, this financial year Westralia Airports Corporation has refused to pay the City of Belmont almost $1 million in rates.

Mr Speaker, you may well ask on what basis has the corporation so acted. It seems that, although he refuses to answer my questions on this matter, the Minister for Transport and Regional Services has provided written advice to Westralia Airports Corporation that it need not pay its full share. As a result, the city and people of Belmont have been short-changed. The reality is that this cruel and arrogant act has been perpetrated by the minister’s direct complicity.

As I mentioned before, the principle of competitive neutrality is integral to national competition policy and tax policy. National competition policy is overseen by the National Competition Council, the NCC. The current Acting President of the National Competition Council is Mr David Crawford. Mr Crawford’s professional qualifications make him well suited to this role. But here is the real nub of what is wrong with this arrogant and complacent government: would you believe that Mr David Crawford is the chairman of the very same Westralia Airports Corporation which is acting so blatantly against the principle of competitive neutrality which the National Competition Council is charged with upholding?

Once again, this sorry episode of grossly inappropriate corporate practice can be sheeted home to the man who made the appointment of Mr Crawford to the NCC—of course, I am talking about the Treasurer of Australia. Not content with foisting his Liberal Party mate Robert Gerard onto the board of the Reserve Bank in flagrant disregard of Treasury advice, this Treasurer has allowed another business mate to be unambiguously and clearly conflicted. So what should happen now? First, the Minister for Transport and Regional Services must do his job and ensure that the Westralian Airports Corporation pays its equivalent of local government taxes, just like everybody else. Secondly, the Treasurer must act immediately to eliminate this conflict and ask Mr Crawford to remove himself from the National Competition Council. To do anything else would simply prove again to the families and businesses in Belmont that under this inept and complacent government there is one rule for big business and another one for everybody else.