[Peetwo]

Budget Estimates in October - 

Via the RRAT committee webpage:

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2020-2021 Budget estimates

Program

Monday, 19 October 2020

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, excluding Communications–Senators Ruston and Duniam

Tuesday, 20 October 2020

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, excluding Communications–Senators Ruston and Duniam

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Agriculture, Water and the Environment, excluding Environment–Senators Ruston and Duniam

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Agriculture, Water and the Environment, excluding Environment–Senators Ruston and Duniam
Program for 19 to 22 October 2020 (PDF 145KB)

Friday, 23 October 2020

Cross Portfolio Murray Darling Basin Plan Matters-Senator Birmingham

 Program for 23 October 2020 (PDF 135KB)

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Not sure if it actually adds up to much but in aviation circles there is actually some additions and a notable omission - the Hooded Canary Avery -  to this COVID-19 year of Bureaucratic O&O'ing of Budgetary Estimates...

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Also on the Can'tberra bubble front apparently BM (AOPA Oz) and KC (AMROBA) virtually met with a Department Deputy Secretary last Thursday afternoon:

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AOPA AUSTRALIA TO MEET DEPUTY SECRETARY, MS CHRISTINE DACEY, 2PM THURS 15th OCT

AOPA Australia will today meet with the Deputy Secretary, Ms Christine Dacey, of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, to discuss a range of industry concerns with the management of Australia's aviation regulations.
Attending the meeting;

- Mr Benjamin Morgan, AOPA Australia CEO
- Mr Ken Cannane, AMROBA Executive Director

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I guess we will eventually find out what was discussed and what the potential outcome will be -   

Next Oz Flying picks up on a major industry stakeholder concern from the Federal Government's Aviation Issues paper:

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Aviation Paper fuels Airport Closure Fears
12 October 2020
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A Federal Government issues paper on the future of aviation in Australia has canvassed the option of giving more power over airports to state and local governments, reigniting concerns over closures of local and regional airports.

The paper The Future of Australia's Aviation Sector: Flying to Recovery was released on 1 October and calls for submissions on a number of challenges facing the aviation industry in immediate and post-COVID eras.

Within the paper is the outline of a Five-year Plan for industry recovery, which also contains three government policy objectives.

" ... this Issues Paper seeks stakeholder feedback on policy options to achieve the Government’s aviation policy objectives," the paper states, "focusing on three main areas:

1. "Reducing the regulatory burden to reduce costs for aviation businesses, encourage greater competition and local investment, and lower prices for Australian travellers – while ensuring our regulatory objectives are met
   
   
2. "Greater local decision making by ensuring state, territory and local governments have the flexibility and autonomy to determine local aviation priorities,and respond to the changing needs of their communities
   
   
3. "Targeted assistance for critical strategic aviation infrastructure and services to improve connectivity and essential service delivery."
   

It is the second objective that has the general aviation community worried. Many regional airports were handed over to local council control under the Aerodrome Local Ownership Plan (ALOP) that started in 1958. Since then, many councils have either struggled with the cost of operating the airport or have expressed a desire to redevelop the land for housing.

Handing more control to the councils is being seen as a trigger to accelerate closures.

Geoff Breust is a former CEO of both Regional Express and Kendall Airlines. He is also the convenor of the Regional Airport Users Action Group.

"The suggestion to provide local government (as owners of airports) with 'flexibility and autonomy', ability to develop 'local aviation priorities' and 'respond to the changing needs of their communities' is a strong indicator of a push to remove the Commonwealth further from any responsibility or accountability for regional and local airports and by definition, continued cost-shift to local authorities," he believes.

"Further, the paper talks about these airports as being businesses. They are not and this is a fallacy that has been promoted by state and local governments for years. Regional and local airports are community assets just the same as the roads that connect regional and local communities both intrastate and interstate.They are essential infrastructure for our national economy.

"Australia continues to lack effective infrastructure to provide the foundation for our industries – especially agriculture, mining and services and potentially manufacturing in the future. To suggest such infrastructure, including airports, be relegated to local/regional considerations with the potential for undesirable outcomes (including closures) based on inappropriate priorities, undermines the whole basis for the development of the industries seen as the life blood for our future

"Accordingly, the Commonwealth and the states have a direct responsibility for that infrastructure and its funding. The current ad hoc funding programs must be replaced with a funding regime for development and major maintenance which recognises the needs and priorities on a national basis.“

Australian Airports Association Chief Executive Officer James Goodwin told Australian Flying that his organisation backed the idea of greater automony for local governments, but warned that the Federal Government needed to promote a consistent approach to decision making.
“Every community and every airport have different needs, issues and priorities," Goodwin said. "It’s important for state, territory and local governments to be given the power to make decisions based on the needs of their local communities and airport passengers.

"However, the Federal Government is responsible for aviation regulation and it’s important there is a consistent national approach when it comes to matters such as aviation safety, security screening, airport land use protection and flight paths.

“The Federal Government is not going to give up this responsibility, nor should they."

When questioned on the finer points of the objective to hand more power to the state and local governments, a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications said that the policy objectives did not actually represent any policy.

"The issues discussed in the paper do not represent Australian Government policy and no decisions have been taken on any of the matters canvassed," she said. "Stakeholder views will be key to informing any future decisions on policies and reforms."

The full issues paper is on the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications website.

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Finally (also Dept, Fed Govt and airport related), via the SMH:

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'Potential criminal offences': Police investigate airport land sale

By David Crowe and Katina Curtis
Updated October 16, 2020 — 5.19pmfirst published at 3.37pm

Federal police have launched an investigation into a Commonwealth deal that sparked a damning audit over a $32.8 million payment to billionaire political donors for land near the new airport in western Sydney.

The investigation is seeking to identify "potential criminal offences" in the federal government decision to buy the land for almost 10 times the value of similar land in other deals.


Land near the Western Sydney Airport was bought for more than $30 million, while a similar parcel of land cost just $3 million.CREDIT:WOLTER PEETERS


The Australian Federal Police confirmed the investigation on Friday after weeks of political dispute over the purchase of the land from Liberal Party donors Tony and Ron Perich's Leppington Pastoral Company.

The 2018 purchase of the land next to the Western Sydney Airport, dubbed the Leppington Triangle, came under scrutiny from the Auditor-General after the government valued it at just $3 million less than a year after buying it for $29.8 million, plus $3 million GST.

The Auditor-General found federal officials did not act ethically by concealing price comparisons. Infrastructure Department officials did not tell Paul Fletcher, the urban infrastructure minister at the time and the key minister responsible for the airport, the sale price for the 12 hectares of land.

The Auditor-General also found officials met the landowners in coffee shops with no record of the discussion, while phone conversations were recorded in an ad hoc manner.

The Infrastructure Department has separately appointed an independent investigator and an auditor to examine the deal and the conduct of officers within its Western Sydney Unit, which managed the purchase.

"The AFP can confirm it is conducting an investigation to identify potential criminal offences relating to issues identified in an ANAO report into the sale of land to the Commonwealth at Badgerys Creek," an AFP spokeswoman said in response to a question from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

"This investigation remains ongoing, and it is too early to speculate on potential outcomes, so no further comment will be provided."  

Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack, the cabinet minister responsible for the land deal, conceded last month the amount was "over the odds" but told radio station 2GB the price would seem a "bargain" in the future.

Labor infrastructure spokeswoman Catherine King said the opposition would use Senate estimates hearings in the coming week to ask officials about the transaction.

"We need to get to the bottom of what has happened with this dodgy deal - a dirty deal that has been done not so dirt cheap," Ms King said on Friday.

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MTF...P2