HANSARD EXTRACT
| Statements
by Members: Badgerys Creek Airport |
| 30 November 2006 |
Mr HAYES
(Werriwa) (9.54 a.m.)—In
the chamber on Monday afternoon the member for
Lindsay
once again attempted to perpetuate the myth that the
Howard
government has no plans for a second airport in Sydney. I cannot
help but wonder how exactly she arrived at that conclusion, because
the Howard government continues to use weasel words when it comes to
answering questions on the future of the land reserved for the
Badgerys Creek airport. The Howard government is known for the use
of weasel words—words that allow it to get around anything that
suits it, and Badgerys Creek is no exception. Rather than being
clear with local residents and saying once and for all what is going
to happen with the land, the
Howard government persists with its use of weasel
words.
In August last year I asked the minister for
transport about the plans the government had for the Badgerys Creek
site and the reasons for its ongoing planning restrictions. Not
until 30 May this year—some nine months later—did I get an answer
that was full of the government’s weasel words. The minister said
this: ‘The government has previously made it clear that it does not
believe that a second airport will be needed in the foreseeable
future.’ The key words are ‘the foreseeable future’. The minister
did not say what the foreseeable future was. The minister did not
give good reasons for not lifting the planning restrictions, for why
double glazing of windows and additional insulation is used and
still being required of local residents or for why residents of
Western Sydney
should continue to face the uncertainties they do.
Federal Labor has made it clear that, when it
comes to Badgerys Creek, the airport will not be built. The only
conclusion I can draw from the use of the words ‘foreseeable future’
is that buried somewhere deep in the Prime Minister’s bottom drawer
is a plan to build Badgerys Creek airport. If the government does
not have a plan to build the airport, it should remove the planning
restrictions. Later today the Western Sydney Alliance will be
meeting the shadow minister for transport,
Kerry
O’Brien, me and other Western Sydney Labor MPs to highlight the
impact of the ongoing planning restrictions. The feelings of local
residents were well and truly vented at a recent meeting that I
attended at the
Kemps
Creek Public School. These feelings of local residents will
certainly be made clear when the alliance meets in Canberra today.
As the member for Macarthur said recently when
asked about the government’s plan for Badgerys Creek: ‘We are in
government to govern, but no-one wants to make a decision.’ No truer
words have been spoken by the member for
Macarthur, and on this occasion I stand here to say that
I fully agree with his synopsis of this government’s actions, or
lack of actions, when it comes to Badgerys Creek. (Time expired)
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