Frank,
Welcome to Rentier Australia, the rent seekers paradise
Rent-seeking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Public assets are sold off, usually at a premium by the gov to "rent seekers" whom usually have a monopoly on the "service" they provide. They charge at a rate dependent on their investment to recoup said investment with little or no competition, this is called "tax farming".(
Tax Farming definition of Tax Farming in the Free Online Encyclopedia.
It isn't just aviation this occurs, you see this in effect with our toll roads, gas/electric infrastructure etc (read Michael West's work on this @ the SMH online). You now pay for the infrastructure that was paid for yrs ago, and as has been shown in NSW (gas piping etc) under the regulators watchful eye they charge for replacement of said infrastructure based on today's inflated costs to replace. In addition, they "gold plate" their work as their return is based on money spent (% of), so the more they invest the greater their return.
The Liberal party loves this. Look at the East-West link in melb, the MOST expensive toll road in the WORLD at close to 1 billion $ per Km. More expensive than the most expensive road built than even the French. The risk will be on the tax payer and the profit with the tax farmers.
Btw, no business case study here that Abbott demanded for the NBN.