John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I again want to refer to the report from the Joint study on aviation capacity for the Sydney region, which was released by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon. Anthony Albanese, on 2 March 2012. I again want to bring to the attention of the parliament some of the key findings and directions of that report. I quote:

−−By 2020, all slots on weekday mornings between 6.00am and 12noon and between 4.00pm and 7.00pm will be fully allocated, so growth of passenger capacity at these times will be dependent on aircraft upgauging.

−−By around 2027, all slots will be allocated, so no new entrants can be accommodated, unless another service is cancelled.

−−By around 2035, there will be practically no scope for further growth of RPT services at the airport.

−−increasing delays and costs for all operations as the airport cannot sustain a peak hour handling rate of 80 movements per hour for more than a limited number of consecutive hours owing to taxiway and apron congestion. Delays will be especially felt when the airport experiences reductions in capacity owing to weather events as the capacity of the airport to recover is limited if all slots are fully allocated;

−−reduced capacity to cater for new services at commercially viable times for airlines;

−−reduced capacity to ‘noise share’ and provide respite for those communities affected by parallel runway operations. By around 2020, the noise sharing modes will only normally be available in early mornings and late evenings …

Deputy Speaker Georganas, you are someone who lives under a flight path and who represents his electorate in Adelaide very vigorously. So too have I represented my constituents since I arrived in this place in 1998. This report spells the most horrendous consequences for people living in the inner west of Sydney, particularly in my electorate of Reid. It begs the question of the need for a second airport to provide relief from noise for the residents of Sydney. This report says, inter alia:

… governments will need within the next five years to have determined the location and commenced investment into another airport site capable of handling large RPT aircraft.

The time for the politics of Sydney airport has to stop. We need bipartisan support from both the federal government and the state government to address this issue. (Time expired)