NORTHERN Midlands Council will continue the fight to squeeze maximum rates out of Launceston Airport’s owners Australian Pacific Airports (Launceston).
The council has lodged an appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Court over the court’s decision in December, dismissing claims against the Commonwealth and Pacific Airports in relation to payment and calculation of equivalent rates.
Mayor Mary Knowles said council had received legal advice that there was an arguable case that the Federal Court had erred in its December decision.
“After considering the legal advice, council resolved to take up its right to appeal to the Full Court against the decision,” Cr Knowles said.
The Federal Court had been asked by the Northern Midlands and Clarence City councils to make declarations relating to the level of rate equivalent payments the owners of Launceston and Hobart airports were required to pay and to which part of their properties the rates should apply.
The councils also argued that commercial activities undertaken on Commonwealth land were rateable in accordance with the national competition policy principles and the terms of the lease between the Australian Government and the airport operator, Australian Pacific Airports.
“We argued that businesses operating on Commonwealth property leased by airport owners should not have a financial advantage over businesses operating outside the airport lease,” Cr Knowles said.
She said the councils, airport owners and Commonwealth Government all agreed the airports were obliged to make rate equivalent contributions to the councils but since the dispute began in 2013, Launceston Airport had substantially reduced its rate equivalent contribution to the detriment of the Northern Midlands community.
“However, we remain in dispute about the level of payments and how they should be calculated,” she said. At the last council meeting in January Cr Andrew McCullough put forward a motion to discontinue all litigation. He claimed the dispute had cost the municipality’s ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and hoped his motion would put an end to further spending. However, his motion was voted down. To date the Northern Midlands Council has spent $304,000. Cr Dick Adams said he considered it to be a case of “all ratepayers should be treated fairly and equally”.
“When the Federal Government leased airports to the private sector, the lease said they needed to pay the equivalent of the rates expected for each airport and councils have argued that the airport should pay the equivalent rates as stated in the lease with the Commonwealth,” he said.
“However, the corporations argue in the court that the councils are not a third party and should not be heard in court thus denying access to the wording of the lease. Airports have also engaged private valuers to give them what rates they should pay.
“One of the biggest land holders in the Northern Midlands, a private company who acquired the lease for Launceston Airport in 1998, are not being fair to the citizens of Tasmania. This corporation owns Melbourne and Launceston airports and has a revenue base of $1.04 billion, yet seeks to have an unfair advantage over the small and medium businesses that compete on the industrial estate surrounding the airport.”
A Launceston Airport spokesperson said that management was disappointed to learn of council’s plan to appeal the ruling and remained of the view that it was fully compliant with all obligations under the terms of its lease.
“This protracted and ongoing court action is regrettable … Launceston Airport would prefer to work constructively with Northern Midlands Council to grow jobs in our local tourism, business and export sectors.”