Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last week we have seen the Liberal Party in South Australia declare war on the Adelaide Airport curfew. A passenger flight, after taking off late from Sydney last Thursday night, asked the department that administers the Adelaide Airport curfew for a dispensation from the curfew. Its delay was entirely predictable; when that plane took off they knew they were running extremely late. Consequently, the dispensation was not given—and rightly so. Talkback radio formed the view that the plane was about to land at one minute past 11. This was not the case. The plane asked for dispensation whilst it was approaching Adelaide, 200 to 300 kilometres out of Adelaide. At that point it was one minute past 11. Therefore, the plane would have landed well after 10 past 11, clearly in breach of the curfew.

The Liberal Party in South Australia came out the next day and declared war on the curfew. Shadow ministers, including the Leader of the Opposition, came out and spoke one after the other, saying that this was bureaucracy gone mad, that we should water it down and that we should allow planes to come in during curfew hours. The curfew was put in place for a specific reason. The Adelaide Airport is six kilometres from the CBD, in the middle of a metropolitan area. It is not unusual, around the world, to have curfews where they are in a residential zone. LaGuardia Airport in New York, Amsterdam international and Sydney Airport—all have curfews. The reason for that is that we need to have a good balance between the residents and business, and we have that good balance in Adelaide. So for the Liberal Party to come out and say that the curfew should be watered down was absurd. It was disrespectful to those residents in the western suburbs. The curfew has always existed. When the new owners of Adelaide Airport purchased that airport 10 years ago they knew that there was a curfew in place. The Liberals must come clean with the western suburbs residents in Adelaide and let them know what their intentions are with the curfew. After what we saw last week, with all the Liberal opposition spokespeople coming out and speaking against it, I am sure that they are looking at changes, and that would be a terrible disaster for those residents that live in the western suburbs.

There are dispensations available for airlines. A dispensation is given in an emergency. It is given under exceptional circumstances. The reason for requiring a dispensation must be immediate in nature. Last week it was not immediate and it was not unforeseen in nature. They were aware of it when they took off. They were also aware that they would be arriving late. The need must be unable to be met by alternative arrangements. This also was not the case.

This is the current arrangement, which the Leader of the Opposition in South Australia did not know about. This is a system that has served the people of the western suburbs very well over the years and, as I said, the Liberals must come clean, both in this place and in South Australia, and let the people of the western suburbs know whether they are going to honour a curfew if they ever form government. (Time expired)