John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was recently reported that Mr Allan Moss, the chief executive of Macquarie Bank, is getting nearly $34 million, or $635,000 per week—109 times the salary of the Prime Minister—to, amongst other things, drive an increase in the number of aircraft flying over homes of constituents in my electorate of Lowe. It was also reported that the board of directors of Macquarie Bank rakes in $206 million per year collectively. It is not clear what Mr Moss does on a day-to-day basis to deserve his grossly inflated salary; what is clear is that the individuals in charge of Macquarie Bank, which is the real owner of Sydney airport since privatisation by the Howard government, put profits before people. These individuals are milking Sydney airport dry and bombarding my electorate with aircraft noise in order to self-servingly distribute grotesque profits towards a board of directors who are not worth the estimated $206 million per year they receive.

Given their outrageous salaries, they probably do not have to deal with the spectre of aircraft noise from their leafy mansions, unlike the people in the electorate of Lowe, who I represent in this parliament. The residents of the inner west have had a gutful of aircraft noise. We take umbrage at seeing Sydney airport, Macquarie Bank, its chief executive and its board of directors making such grotesque and obscene profits at our expense. Residents in the inner west are virtually powerless when it comes to complaining about Sydney airport’s appalling behaviour.

Since the Howard government’s privatisation of Sydney airport, it is no longer operated or owned by the government, so the direct line of responsibility has faded. The Howard government has provided a token gesture to residents by providing a complaints hotline, which, if attended, does little to investigate or act on those complaints. Airservices Australia, the authority responsible for upholding the long-term operating plan, have not done their job. People living in the inner west were promised 17 per cent air traffic movements and, currently, we are being bombarded with 31.5 per cent air traffic movements, almost double what we were promised. My constituents have also seen curfew breach after curfew breach, yet little gets done about it. They have seen a greater number of aircraft flying over homes, exceeding the number of aircraft movements promised but, again, nothing gets done. Since privatisation and ownership by Macquarie Bank, Sydney airport has increasingly acted like a law unto itself. Complaints continue to pour into my office about increased aircraft noise and traffic. They deserve to have an independent umpire in place to hear, investigate and act upon their complaints.

So today, I again call on the Howard government to implement, fairly, a long-term operating plan for Sydney airport to ensure that people living to the north get only 17 per cent air traffic movements and to establish an independent aircraft noise ombudsman to enforce this plan. Macquarie Bank’s board of directors may have collectively earned $206 million per year; however, they have not earned the right to ride roughshod— (Time expired)