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Western Sydney Airport Market Access Facilitation

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development

The Government has amended the Airports Act 1996 to remove the airport cross-ownership restrictions placed on Sydney West Airport (SWA). The Airports Act 1996 provides that airport-operator companies are subject to a 15 per cent limit on cross-ownership of certain airports. The aim of the restrictions is to ensure diversity of ownership and control of certain major airports as specified in the Act. In relation to SWA, the 15 per cent limit on cross-ownership applied to the following pairs of airport-operator companies (section 49): SWA and Brisbane Airport; SWA and Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport; and SWA and Perth Airport. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared and certified by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, and has been assessed as compliant by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (the OBPR). The OBPR advises that the preparation of the RIS was not consistent with best practice as the RIS required a higher level of analysis. In particular, the RIS does not explain the purpose of the cross-ownership restrictions, or the competition problem that they seek to address. The RIS estimates that the average annual regulatory cost is zero. The OBPR has agreed to the estimate.