Jack, can I ask you a very simple question to the person behind the blinkers.... What is the difference between paying a landing charge for using an airport and paying a toll to use a toll road?
There is none. User pays has been entrenched society for 25+ years now, it is time some of you removed head from dark place and get with the program. I used to think along the same lines as yourself that airports are vital infrastructure, however this is less and less the case now in this era of electronic communication.
Griffo etc, GA is now such a bloody tiny trickle in the big bucket that is government at any level here in Australia, and is seen by many in the general community as populated by eletists with money to burn.
You need to change that perception. The way the community would see a fly-in to a free landing charge AD is abuse of the system. The local take-away bloke may get fat on his profits for the day but what happens when you leave?
GA in Australia is a tiny fraction of the size it is in the US, it should not be the case as we have so many isolated communities and great distances etc but think about this for a moment. Commercial aviation/RPT on the other hand actually offers something back to the community, they are the ones who should be being looked after....
