Risks with draft airport regulations highlighted

INDUSTRY body the Australian Logistics Council says the federal government’s draft airport regulations risk undermining productivity and supply-chain resilience.

The Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure is seeking feedback on a remake of the Airports (Environment Protection) Regulations 1997 before they expire ('sunset') on 1 April 2026.

According to the department, the regulations set out “a regulatory framework that aligns with national environmental standards, guidelines and frameworks for air, water, and soil pollution and offensive noise”.

They also aim to determine how environmental values and heritage at leased federal airports are managed and regulated.

In a social media post, the ALC stated it had lodged its submission on proposed regulations.

“We support strong, contemporary environmental regulation. However, the current draft introduces material legal and operational risks for airport-based freight and logistics — compounded by a highly compressed consultation period ahead of the April sunsetting deadline,” the ALC stated.

“The framework risks increasing compliance and liability exposure, delaying freight precinct investment, and undermining productivity and supply-chain resilience, without delivering proportionate environmental benefit.”

The ALC has recommended what it says is a “staged, risk-managed approach: preserve regulatory continuity in the short term, and progress substantive reform through the Aviation White Paper process, supported by proper consultation and impact analysis.”

“Good regulation must protect the environment and enable efficient, reliable national supply chains,” the ALC stated.

Key proposed changes to the regulations are:

• Amend the local standards provisions to allow the Minister to issue a local standard with conditions and to vary or revoke a local standard, including at the request of an Airport Lessee Company.
• Amend the reporting requirement for the general duties not to pollute and to preserve environmental and heritage values, as well as to create new offence provisions for breaches of the general duties.  
• Update monitoring, reporting, investigation and remediation provisions to better align with national standards and to facilitate investigations into air, water and soil pollution as well as offensive noise.
• Change the term “accepted limit” (with reference to pollution limits in the Schedules) to “investigation level”, to reflect the wording in national standards for contaminated site management.
• Insert a new section to allow the Minister to promptly update investigation levels for pollutants as national guidelines are updated, including for emerging pollutants of concern, such as various industrial chemicals including PFAS.