Lookleft
You are correct. As CAA Chairman I introduced the FAA Establishment and Disestablishment formula for Class D towers. This resulted in a number of towers closing, such as Wagga and Mt Isa. My problem with the situation at Ballina is once again the safety expenditure is being reversed. Instead of spending money on mitigating the chance of an accident, they have actually spent the money on a fire service that will pull people out of a burning wreck. Why not put in a Unicom first of all? If run correctly on the American and Canadian model, the cost will be zero. Then why not drop the Class E airspace down to a lower level? That, in fact, is a recommendation from the last CASA Safety Study. The cost is very small.
Personally I am completely opposed to the huge waste of money for a fire station at Ballina. It is totally ridiculous and a huge misallocation of resources. However, seeing a fire station exists and there are seventeen firemen on the payroll, why not at least provide a Unicom service in the way they do in the USA? As I have mentioned, the cost is zero and there will be a marked safety improvement.