AIRCRAFT enthusiasts and joy flight operators spent late last week packing their belongings after they were evicted from their rented Point Cook RAAF hangars.
The Department of Defence issued letters last month indicating that five historic Bellman hangars on the base’s south tarmac had been assessed as being unsafe.
They were told to vacate by 12 September.
However, despite an independent engineer’s report commissioned by the tenants that showed the hangars were sound, the department did not give a hoped-for reprieve or extension.
“It’s like the Melbourne docks down here with containers everywhere,” said Lindsay McKee of Hoppers Crossing, who has rented his hangar for 14 years.
He was half way through rebuilding a Cessna aircraft and a Merlin-engined World War II Mustang and is now looking for a shed to rent.
Although his hangar was not identified as unsafe on the department’s engineering report, Mr McKee said he had to vacate any way because of the department’s asbestos concerns.
“I’ve had nothing in writing but verbally, I’ve been told to pack,” he said.
He said he would be pleasantly surprised if there was any last-minute reprieve but he was not optimistic.
A Department of Defence spokesman said the tenants had been offered short-term storage and land to erect temporary sheds.
The tenants collectively pay about $100,000 in rent each year, which they argue should have been used to upgrade the hangars if the safety concerns were legitimate.
Lalor MP Julia Gillard has taken the issue to Canberra, calling on the Parliamentary Secretary of Defence, Sandy MacDonald, to make public the Defence Department’s safety report.
“These tenants have been treated outrageously and we are absolutely convinced there is no safety issue,” she said.
Ms Gillard held a press conference in Treasury Gardens on Friday to publicise the issue.
“I’m extremely disappointed and amazed that a government for no reason has taken this measure,” she said.
Mark Pilkington, secretary of the Point Cook airfield preservation action group, said some tenants had received automatically generated rent notices, some asking for payment until the end of the year.
“It’s all extremely confusing and just adds insult to injury,” he said.
