Well..the Feds put in the runways, taxiways and tower. Most of the hangars etc WERE developed by private enterprise. The GAIT fees and fuel levy used to cover the use of the government owned part of the facilities.
The leases the tenants had on the ground they had developed weren't good enough protection from the developers refusing to renew them, even though the tenants had put up the buildings (or bought them from someone who had) themselves at their own risk, some found themselves forced to rent back their own property.
We have had plenty of bastardry here at Jandakot too and what used to be a pleasant drive through some lovely undulating banksia forest is now a snarl of stationary traffic surrounded by a concrete jungle. A testament to greed...and the duplicity of Peter Garrett signing off on the clearing.