10.5

It relates to the asbestos laden aftermath of the four, or was it five “accidental” fires which occurred at the heritage listed St. John’s orphanage. These “accidental” fires left an unsafe, toppling charred ruin which resulted in asbestos dust being blown over the neighbouring properties for years, until council issued a demolition order which was ignored until legal proceedings were commenced. Check out the Wikipedia page on St John’s orphanage for more background.

I think there is every chance that once he has been nailed to the crosses by Worksafe, CASA’s ongoing pressure, Goulburn council prevail with their court case, the forced sale of the airport and his deteriorating health condition have prevailed it will be a fine place to operate from. Truth be known, it is pretty good now. You can completely ignore his impotent and largely incoherent threats and just get on with flying. Many folk from Canberra are doing just that now.

Let me save you some time…

Council leased the airport to the now owner for two years beginning on 1 October 2011 and sold the airport to the now owner on 2 September 2013.

It was leased with an option to purchase. That process was protracted and took about two years to finalise. An interesting footnote was that the sale had a series of significant presale conditions which needed to be met. They were not met, Council was formally advised of the shortcomings, but proceeded anyway. To answer your question, it may be possible to find that date, but the sale document date can be found if it is important to you.

Just to add to the above. A covenant was created by Council shortly before it was sold which specified several conditions which applied to the land use. The owner did not adhere to the conditions, and council did not enforce the conditions which they put in place. None the less it is a legal document which was pivotal in the past.

You make a very good point about Councils and in Goulburn’s case there are very many serious questions to be asked. Unfortunately when one asks, The doona is pulled over the head as pudgy little grasping fingers are firmly stuck into already deaf ears.

To add some context, the current owner has suffered several heart attacks and is currently facing four serious criminal charges under section 27 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. WorkCover does not take too kindly to businesses killing their customers. Criminal convictions usually mean one is prevented from operating as a director of a company. His departure will be universally welcomed as his greatest contribution to Australian aviation.

There is a pre existing covenant which specifies that it remain an airport.

Hi Chris, I will have hangar space becoming available at Goulburn shortly. Please let me know if i can help. ([email protected])

Deleted...possibly litigious...mod

Hi there Ian, As huge fan of the KISS principle, why not just a couple of gas struts, with appropriate brackets? Cheers, John

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-dies-during-skydiving-festival-at-goulburn-20151230-glwqmy.html

You have hit the nail on the head! I am sure the family of the deceased and the maimed innocent will be greatly comforted by the ongoing earning. A most interesting couple of questions to ask are these : was everything reasonably practicable done to avoid this accident? Could the possibility of such events have been reasonably foreseen? There have been a number of serious injuries which preceded this, and countless unreported near misses. It is only a matter of time until there is another fatal.