Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate Balcatta Soccer Club on their promotion to the state premier league, the highest league of soccer in Western Australia. For the record, I am very proud to be the club’s No. 1 ticket holder. This year, 2010, the club will compete against some of the best teams in the state. Balcatta senior players will be hoping to join others from Western Australia who have risen through the state’s local competition and who now play for A-league teams, including Perth Glory, and I look forward to seeing them achieving this dream.

Last year, 2009, was one of Balcatta Soccer Club’s most successful seasons in recent years. Along with the league team, the women’s and junior teams also enjoyed premiership success. Only recently, the under-11s team returned from a junior tournament in Singapore as tournament champions. These many successes are testament to the passion and commitment the Balcatta Soccer Club brings out in its members. This is a club that has helped build an outstanding local sporting community in Stirling and will now represent the community across Western Australia.

At the heart of the club is a group of dedicated and hard-working volunteers, who oversee every aspect of the club’s operations, from the seniors and juniors competitions to the planning and running of social events and fundraising activities. I have had the good fortune for many years of being able to attend the club’s annual ball, and I did so again towards the end of last year. That ball helps to raise much-needed funding, but it also gives players and members an opportunity to celebrate the end of the club’s season.

Pat Luca, the club president, has done an outstanding job at engaging both the club’s members and its sponsors in every aspect of the club, which has long been recognised as a community-founded and driven organisation. This year looks set to be an exciting time in the club’s history, following its promotion to the premier league, and I wish the club all the best for the 2010 season.

I would like to turn to another issue—that is, aircraft noise over my electorate. Over the past 18 months, residents across my electorate have raised their concerns with me over the drastic increase in aircraft noise. A change to Perth’s air route structure in November 2008 resulted in an increase in air traffic noise from low-flying planes over the Stirling area. Air Services Australia, in coordination with the federal government, conducted a review of Perth’s airspace before implementing these changes. However, no community consultation was undertaken and as a result the community have asked me to raise this matter about the constant impact of low-flying planes.

It is the lack of community consultation that I find completely unacceptable. There is always an understanding that aircraft noise will have to be a burden on the community, but you really need to consult the community before changes of this nature are made. Under its charter, Air Services Australia should have undertaken that consultation. Together with my Western Australian colleagues, we have called on the government to reveal how such drastic changes to Perth’s airspace were made without any community consultation. (Time expired)