Abstract: In line with overseas trends toward ‘airport cities’, all major federally leased Australian airports now derive a significant proportion of their revenue from non-aeronautical sources. New land uses such as direct factory outlets, big-box retailing and even brickworks have proven most controversial. State governments, local councils, community groups, industry and professional associations have expressed concerns about these commercial developments. Vesting of statutory responsibility for airport development approvals under the Airports Act 1996 in the Commonwealth Government has underscored the tension. Debate about development of nonaeronautical activities on federally leased airport land is one of a suite of public policy issues addressed in 2008-09 by the National Aviation Policy Review. The review is being conducted by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. A ‘Green Paper’ (December 2008) outlined projected policy settings across a range of concerns. The present paper analyses nearly 200 submissions which addressed ‘aviation infrastructure’ issues and focuses specifically on the problematic issue of commercial airport enterprises. It looks for broad patterns of convergence and divergence amongst stakeholders in the discourses of debate. The results reveal a striking contrast between the views of the various major stakeholders capturing the desirability of reforms which have already commenced before the Review has been completed.