Page 6006 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 2010
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That is really what this motion is about. It is about saying: let us not take a decision now that is going to lead to significant problems in the future that are going to be extremely difficult to address and certainly impossible to reverse.
There is a shared understanding from Airservices Australia and the commonwealth government that the standard AS2021 is not working in other parts of Australia in terms of alleviating people’s concerns about airport noise. That is why the federal aviation white paper says that the federal government and states and territories will work towards developing a national land use planning regime. The white paper also recommends that the ANEF system needs refining—a further indication that it is currently not effective in managing expectations around aircraft noise for the community.
I also know that some people may say that aircraft noise in Sydney is far worse and that people will just get used to it; after all, we are a small town with a relatively small airport. However, I would say to you, firstly, that Sydney airport does have a night time curfew—something that decision makers here do not seem to think is of value to the people of the ACT and Jerrabomberra. But why on earth would we create this kind of problem, especially when we know that the airport has plans for expansion and that Canberra airport has so far failed to secure a curfew for its residents? Why would we want to do this when we know what the ramifications of aircraft noise are on the community? It is just bad planning to encourage people to live under flight paths when we know better.
And so we come to the impacts on the people of the ACT. Make no mistake: building south Tralee under a flight path will see residents put in a situation where they will start to agitate for change. There are suggestions that they will be asked to sign documents when they move in, acknowledging that they are moving in under a flight path, and I am sure residents will sign that. But human nature says that, once people move there and they realise the nature of the problem, they will start to complain and agitate as they seek to get a better life for themselves. Anybody would do it. This will result in political pressure.
We know that Tralee is in the seat of Eden-Monaro, one of the most marginal federal seats in Australia. The federal member for Eden-Monaro and prospective candidates for that seat will start to agitate on behalf of their constituents, as they rightly would, and you can just watch that series of events build and build, that political pressure build, until there are calls for noise sharing—and ultimately this will result in noise sharing, which will impact on the residents across Tuggeranong and southern Canberra. And, unless any members in this place can turn around and tell me why that is a good thing, they should be supporting this motion.
Already the community have voiced clearly their interest in having a curfew at Canberra airport. But, as I indicated, that battle has been lost for another day. But if this development does go ahead I think that the debate about a curfew will be back on the agenda more quickly than anyone expected.
Aside from aircraft noise issues, a range of planning issues has not been dealt with effectively in regard to this development. Road links, public transport and key
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