Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about a matter that has long been a concern to the residents of my electorate—namely, aircraft noise emanating from Sydney airport. When the Howard government was elected it was determined to ensure there was a fair sharing of aircraft noise over the suburbs of Sydney, a policy that had bipartisan support. Following a long and very difficult consultation process led by the Sydney Airport Community Forum, of which I was the chairman at the time, the government formally adopted the Long Term Operating Plan for Sydney Airport. The plan meant that the percentage of aircraft operations over the northern suburbs of Sydney would drop to an average of 17 per cent. LTOP remains the policy that is meant to guide the government and Airservices Australia in relation to aircraft movements.

I know from the calls, emails and letters to my office and from statements by constituents that in many parts of my electorate people are frustrated that Airservices Australia has failed to implement LTOP targets. They failed to do it under the coalition government and they are failing to do it today under the Labor government. I know that the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is using his best endeavours—he and I have a shared and common interest in this—but LTOP is not being delivered, and the matter is getting worse, not better, for local residents. After 13 years, there are real questions about Airservices Australia and its commitment to the implementation of LTOP in relation to the target for the northern approaches. It is time for the minister to take direct action to ensure those targets are met.

Statistics presented to the Sydney Airport Community Forum show the extent of the failure. Over the north, Airservices Australia has come nowhere near the 17 per cent target. Over the last three years the percentage of movements to the north has hovered at over 30 per cent—almost double. In the face of such recalcitrance the government should immediately expand the brief given to the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman. Specifically, the ombudsman's charter should be amended to specifically include assessing the performance of Airservices Australia in relation to meeting its LTOP targets. We need more scrutiny of Airservices Australia because they seem incapable of moving or unwilling to move.

Again, I recognise the commitment of Minister Albanese in this regard. I praise him for sharing the same values in relation to this matter as I have, but we want action. If Airservices Australia does not move, then we will start to push for some sort of independent commission of inquiry into Airservices Australia to find out why it is not delivering the LTOP targets. (Time expired)