Councillor's concern as Defence reveals details on Wagga Airport's future

At the Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday, a Department of Defence representative revealed there were plans to place the airport under a "commercial lease agreement".

The airport is currently nearing the end of a 30-year lease between Wagga City Council and the Commonwealth government, which is set to expire in June 2025.

Questioning Department of Defence representatives, Nationals senator Perin Davey raised concerns the term sounded terribly similar to privatisation.

However, department representative Celia Perkins told the committee there was a difference.

"A commercial lease arrangement is quite different from privatisation and operates at about eight dual-use airfields around the country," Ms Perkins said.

The Wagga airport's use is shared by the neighbouring RAAF base.

Ms Davey also pointed out the Wagga council had poured significant financial investment into the precinct - including a recent $5.3 million taxiway upgrade.

"All the assets [built] on the land has been [done] due to Wagga council investment not defence investment. And you're not even giving them the option to try and negotiate a renewed lease," Ms Davey said.

In reply, Ms Perkins said as defence had developed its "planned approach to market" it would do so through engagement with both the state government and Wagga City Council.

"We can and do certainly develop those approaches to market in a variety of ways, consistent with the various commonwealth property policies," she said.

Responding to the revelations, Wagga councillor Rod Kendall was concerned.

"The whole idea about a competitive commercial lease bidding arrangement certainly raises concerns, because the history of those things is they don't take into account the local social good ... [or] the non-commercial aspects of the operation," Cr Kendall said.

"That really raises alarm bells."

During the senate estimates hearing this week, Ms Davey also questioned whether defence would work to remediate the issue of PFAS contamination at the airport and leaching into the groundwater before a new commercial agreement on the airport lease was reached.

Ms Perkins said defence has, for a number of years, been "undertaking a comprehensive program of PFAS remediation around the country".

"These have been really important programs and [there is] a strong commitment for defence to understand the nature of PFAS movement through groundwater, primarily on airfields, and to work in PFAS affected sites on remediation and treatment," she said.

Dan Fankhauser, from the Department of Defence, also outlined a planned base redevelopment at RAAF Wagga includes "significant drainage refurbishment work".

"This is aimed at reducing surface water flows off the base into the surrounding area, particularly the Gumly Gumly Wetland, which is one of the migration pathways," Mr Fankhauser said.

Cr Kendall agreed that defence was committed to remediating PFAS contamination, but said stopping current and future PFAS discharges was not the real issue.

"You can pretty quickly stop [those] ... but how are you going to stop the effect of pre-existing discharges," he asked.

Cr Kendall said he was "not aware" of any plan being developed to help stem that.

"It has been identified in aquifers, it has been identified as spreading. How are they going to stop that?

"That's pretty critical."

Cr Kendall raised concern that if the airport was leased to a commercial entity that it does not have to pay for PFAS remediation, because he believed they will only pass on the cost to consumers.

As such, he said it was really important that people have confidence that the federal government will fund the efforts required to fix the problem.

"The local community didn't cause it," Cr Kendall said.

As commonwealth land leased to the council, the airport has not been eligible for state grants like other regional airports that are actually owned by local governments.

Cr Kendall said this had to change going forward.

"Huge amounts of state money have gone into ... just about every airport in NSW ... which Wagga council has not been able to access ... because our airport is regarded as federal property," he said.