Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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AIRPORTS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 3) 2003 NO. 302

Section 252 of the Airports Act 1996 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted under the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 33(1) of the Airports Act 1996 provides for an airport-lessee company to enter into an airport-management agreement with a qualified company that is approved in writing by the Minister. Under subsection 33(7), the criteria for an airport-management agreement is that the airport-management company, either alone or together with the airport lessee company and/or another person(s), must be in a position to exercise control over either or both of the following:

•       the operation of the whole or a substantial part of the airport; or

•       the direction to be taken in relation to the development of the whole or a substantial part of the airport.

Paragraph 2.09(1)(a) of the Airports Regulations 1997 (the Principal Regulations) provided that an airport sublease is required to contain terms to the effect that the sublease is automatically terminated upon the creation of an interest in the sublease in favour of a person who is in a position to exercise the type of control described in subsection 33(7) of the Act. This provision raised uncertainty as to whether an airport-management company was precluded from having a sublease on the airport. This was an unintended consequence of the wording of regulation 2.09.

The Regulations amend paragraph 2.09(1)(a) of the Principal Regulations to clarify that a sublease entered into by an airport-management company is not terminated by the operation of regulation 2.09.

Paragraphs 1.03(1)(ia) and (pa) of the Principal Regulations provide that, for the definition of airport site in section 5 of the Act, Hoxton Park and Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airports are the places made up of the land described in Parts 1.9A and 1.16A of Schedule 1 of the Principal Regulations respectively.

The descriptions in those parts of Schedule 1 required updating because the Commonwealth disposed of an area of Hoxton Park Airport to the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority for the construction of the Westlink M7 (Western Sydney Orbital). Also, the Commonwealth has acquired access rights over a railway line from NSW StateRail to provide access between Sydney Airport and land acquired from Pacific Power and the NSW Department of Public Works and Services.

The amendments changed the definition of the Hoxton Park and Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airports sites to reflect the new property descriptors of the changed areas.

Accordingly, the Regulations amended Schedule 1 "Airport Sites" as follows:

1)       "Part 1.9A Hoxton Park Airport" - replaced reference to folio identifier 1/546264 with folio identifier 22/1042996; and

2)       "Part 1.16A Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport" - added folio identifier 1/1054373.

The Act specifies no conditions that needed to be met before the power to make the Regulations could be exercised.

The Regulations commenced on gazettal.