The Village Building Co Limited v Airservices Australia

Village Building Co Limited filed an application in the Federal Court against Airservices Australia (AA) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent AA from endorsing a draft Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) for Canberra Airport. The primary judge dismissed the application and Village appealed. Village argued that AA's endorsement of the draft ANEF would not make it a lawful ANEF under the Airports Act and that AA must assess the data used to prepare the ANEF under the Air Services Act. Village also claimed it was owed procedural fairness by AA in endorsing the ANEF.

The court found that Village did not have standing to seek the relief it requested as it did not have a special or sufficient material interest in the endorsement process. The court noted that Village's interest was no greater than that of any member of the public owning land near the airport. The court also found that AA's endorsement of the draft ANEF would not make it a lawful ANEF under the Airports Act as it would require approval by the Minister under that Act. Finally, the court held that AA was not required to assess the data used to prepare the ANEF under the Air Services Act as the relevant Ministerial direction did not specify how AA was to endorse ANEFs.

The appeal was dismissed and Village was ordered to pay the respondents' costs.