Airservices land sales from the closure of ground based aids – who gets the loot?
 

There are claims around (this is a rumour network after all) that Airservices could reap the benefit of tens of millions of dollars by selling off the land that was previously used for ground based aids.

Is there any chance of this being used to assist general aviation? Or will it just go into general revenue at Airservices to keep maximum staff levels and big bonuses?

Dick, don't know about major centres but in the regions the land that the aids sit on is leased. I have been involved with renewals of some of these in the past.

The Air Services balance sheet doesn't look that sparkling & carries debt. Asset holdings are not that brilliant and given the organisations Opex any savings/returns that can be used to employ front line operational staff is a good thing. The organisation basically spends what it gets which in itself is part of the problem.

What happened to the Multi acreage HF site in western Sydney? I understood back in my time it was going to worth a small fortune for housing .

Sold quite a few years ago.

The West Pymble NDB block would be worth a bit...

Especially now that its no longer a homing beacon for all aircraft landing at Sydney.

From my previous experience of working with the Feds, it all goes into consolidated revenue and the organisations that generate any profits don't get to see a cent of it directly.

Chances are the money will be used to fund non-aviation related government activities such as health which is a bottomless pit.

Surely not true? Isn't it a GBE and therefore I owns the land .

Let's look at that word "loot";

loot
luːt/Submit
noun
1.
private property taken from an enemy in war.
"the rooms were stuffed with the loot from Francis's expeditions into Italy"
verb
1.
steal goods from (a place), typically during a war or riot.
"police confronted the protestors who were looting shops"
synonyms: plunder, pillage, ransack, sack, raid, rifle, rob, burgle, steal from; maraud, ravage, devastate, lay waste to, wreak havoc on, vandalize; gut, strip, fleece, clear out; literarydespoil; raredepredate, spoliate
"troops rushed in and looted the cathedral"

So the claim is that AsA is stealing. A big call.

The problem with AsA is that is has to make a profit for the Government. For some time now, practically all managers at every level are on contracts. If they rock the boat or disagree with any policy, they are out of a job. So, you end up with a company full of yes men/ladies. Bit like North Korea, figuratively speaking. No one's been shot yet.

You got me thinking Dick, when it comes time to offload assets then what happens to the land used by GBE's which is often funded/acquired on their behalf by the government. I couldn't find an answer but in my research came across this link:

https://www.finance.gov.au/property/gbe/

So it looks like AA is not a GBE and must have it's existence legislated elsewhere.

What would interest me, and I guess many others, is how much land Airservices actually 'owns'. As YPJT intimated earlier most of the operational lands are leased for a peppercorn rent off other authorities - local or state government. A lot of these sites were included in the local ownership handovers in the 80's and rented back for 1$ a year. I would love to see their land asset register.

Guys/Gals,

Airservices is not a GBE. Have a read of the Airservices Act 1995 for an understanding of how they came to be, and why they operate the way they do

Alpha

Airservices is a:
Corporate Commonwealth entity

A corporate Commonwealth entity is a body corporate that has a separate legal personality from the Commonwealth and can act in its own right exercising certain legal rights such as entering into contracts and owning property.


Some provisions of the PGPA Act apply to corporate Commonwealth entities differently to non-corporate Commonwealth entities because of their different legal status, for example the provisions relating to appropriations, banking, investments and the use of indemnities.


Types of corporate Commonwealth entities include: Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, Airservices Australia and the Reserve Bank of Australia.


Commonwealth Companies or GBEs are defined to include NBN and Railtrack Corporation