Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This statement that I have here makes a statement. It is the EIS for Sydney's biggest project, Badgerys Creek Airport—and look at it. It is designed to make you think it is very comprehensive, right? Wrong. Here is one critical flaw in this EIS, showing you what it is all about.

In 2000, the Blue Mountains was put on the World Heritage List by UNESCO, a great win for Western Sydney and the nation. In announcing the decision, UNESCO specifically referred to the fact that plans for a second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek, adjacent to the Greater Blue Mountains Area, had been abandoned. This EIS largely quotes that UNESCO decision, except for the fact that UNESCO referred to the shelving of the airport! Amazing. One of the biggest reasons why the Blue Mountains was heritage listed—no airport—is not mentioned by this EIS. Like so much support for this airport, the EIS is all show, artificial, cynically papering over any argument against the airport and developed using dodgy community consultation.

This is an airport that was announced by a Warringah based Prime Minister; backed up by a Point Piper Prime Minister; supported by a Manly based Premier; funded by a Sutherland based federal Treasurer; and advocated by a Hornsby based Minister for Urban Infrastructure who tells Western Sydney it is great to have a 24-hour-a-day airport, while regularly complaining himself about aircraft noise coming from curfew-protected Sydney Airport. These are politicians, backed up by media execs, who do not live in Western Sydney, reporting the comments of phantom community groups, claiming to speak for Western Sydney, but run out of the east.

Take the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, with its chairperson, Christopher Brown. He loves Western Sydney; he just will not live with us! Check out the patrons of his organisation, the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue: Nick Greiner, Cameron Clyne, Dr Kerry Schott, Professor Peter Shergold—all mates of Chris Brown, and I am pretty sure that, like him, they do not open their eyes of a morning in Western Sydney. The dialogue group is a massive money-spinner, running conferences talking about Western Sydney that are not held in Western Sydney. You can attend if you stump up $500 for a ticket.

What political and business advocates of this project are interested in is the commercial opportunity flowing from a 24-hour airport based in Sydney's west, an operation that will never affect them personally. Many of these politicians and businesses do not champion better funding for schools that are falling apart in Sydney's west. They do not push for improvements to our run-down public transport infrastructure or toll-free motorways to ease crippling road congestion. They do not push for infrastructure that Western Sydney residents actually need. They are never outraged by hospital ward closures in our area or horrified that our hospitals are listed as some of the most stressed in New South Wales. But they do say the answer to all those problems is Badgerys Creek Airport—seriously. They point to the economic and job benefits of an airport that will not be fully operational until the second half of this century. It will be interesting to see if their jobs figures get revised as a result of automation and technological change.

But here is a test for politicians and businesspeople that tell us Badgerys Creek Airport, propped up by billions in public funds, is good for jobs. Instead of waiting for jobs to land in the second half of this century, why don't we generate jobs for Sydneysiders right now through one simple move: lift the number of planes that land every hour at Sydney Airport, not by 100 an hour or 50 or 20 or 10 but just by five extra planes every hour. You extend the life and efficiency of Sydney Airport without spending one extra public dollar, boosting economic activity, tourism and jobs. A jobs and growth government would race to do that, surely? They will not, because, like most advocates for this airport, they are hypocrites, pushing for a development that will affect the quality of life for the west of Sydney, using terms they would never accept themselves. And they will never accept a curfew on Badgerys because it would render the project uneconomic.

So why are we pouring billions into an airport that Qantas will not move to, that Virgin will not move to and that is only economic if it operates 24 hours a day? Outgoing head of IATA Tony Tyler said it was generally better to have a single airport as a hub. He said:

I don't know how they plan to divide the traffic distribution … It is quite hard to think of a way that really works.

That begs the question: are we really talking about two airports in a future Sydney?

I am pretty certain this speech will not be reported within Sydney media, because they have made up their minds. They are making sure this airport gets built, no matter what Western Sydney residents think. But, to residents in Western Sydney who see this speech, all I ask you to do is to share it among your friends, along with the speeches made last week by Senator Doug Cameron and Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman, because we are keen for you to hear not just the arguments for this airport but the way the arguments are being made. We also want you to get what other Sydneysiders enjoy—economic opportunity and a good quality of life. You deserve both, without sacrificing one for the other.