Wagga City Council will take its campaign for better lease terms on the city's airport to the new federal Transport Minister.
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The Department of Defence leases the land for Wagga Airport to the council from its adjacent Royal Australian Air Force base at Forest Hill.
The council has been lobbying to change the terms as the current lease agreement reaches its expiry in 2025, arguing that it needlessly costs ratepayers between $150,000 and $200,000 per year.
Council general manager Peter Thompson said the current lease had left Wagga with a "second class" gateway for visitors when the city deserved much better.
The issue used to fall under Riverina MP Michael McCormack's portfolio as Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, but he lost those responsibilities to Barnaby Joyce in last month's National Party leadership spill.
Mr Thompson said the council had yet to speak to Mr Joyce about the issue.
"[The airport lease] is still right at the top of our list of issues to resolve," he said.
"We did have a meeting with Mr McCormack that was scheduled at the time of the leadership change, which was cancelled for reasons that we readily accept and we're now looking to get a new meeting to pursue the same inquiry."
Mr Thompson said the council would continue to lobby for changes to the lease.
"At the moment the community is paying a significant amount of money to provide that passenger service on land that we don't own, on assets that we build and pay for but don't own," he said.
"We're looking for a different arrangement so that the other levels of government contribute a fair amount to provide that vital access to the city.
"We'd be very happy to continue operate it but not at a loss compared to the other regional councils which are far more supported than Wagga council is in relation to the passenger terminal and the airport."
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Mr Thompson said the council had missed out on additional state funding for the airport, compared to other regional cities, as the land was federally owned.
Labor duty Senator for the Riverina Deborah O'Neill has also resumed her campaign to change Wagga's Airport lease, writing to Mr Joyce last week and urging him to take action.
"Given that the Defence budget is $37.3 billion, the $150,000 annual fee would be an insignificant thing for the department to forgo and would make a huge difference to the City of Wagga who could spend that money instead on their provision of local amenities," she said.
Mr Joyce's office was contacted for comment but did not respond prior to publication.
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