Afternoon briefing, ABC TV

GREG JENNETT: Catherine King, good to have you back on the program. As we discuss these airport flight paths for Western Sydney, I’m interested in the general design principles, I suppose. It’s common to describe this airport with its economic benefits and jobs as an aerotropolis. So is it part of the social bargain here that in order for residents broadly dispersed in Sydney to obtain those benefits, they should pay the cost of those economic benefits, that being sharing of the airport noise?

CATHERINE KING: Well, basically the design principles for the flight paths were developed back in 2016 under the previous government after fairly extensive community consultation and they’re actually built into the Western Sydney Airport Corporation’s development of the airport in and of itself. So the flight paths have had to take that into consideration.

Of course, the first thing that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Air Services Australia, and Defence Department, as well as the airport itself and my department, the first thing that we have to consider is safety. Obviously, flights have to be able to operate safely, people expect that when they get on a plane in this country that they will be kept safe. International visitors expect the same. So safety has to be the first consideration.

Then obviously in terms of the design principles that we developed, we’re particularly trying to minimise the number – the amount of noise over residential areas as well as trying to keep the noise out of those late nights as much as we possibly could, bearing in mind this is a fairly constrained space given that there are already existing air flights and air paths, flight paths that are already coming through that area.

GREG JENNETT: Many of the residential areas that you refer to, as I understand it, are, generally speaking, newer residential developments and, of course, the history of Badgerys Creek, even before construction began, is very long, to say the least. Do you share the view that anyone who lives in proximity to these flight paths, broadly speaking, would have known, or should have known about forthcoming aircraft noise?

CATHERINE KING: Look, I mean I don’t really think about it in that way. I think that, you know, my job as the Transport Minister who has got carriage of Western Sydney International Airport and the delivery of that airport alongside Katy Gallagher, as the two shareholding ministers, is to, as we develop these flight paths, to try and make sure that we are, you know, safety first, making sure we’re mitigating that noise of existing residents.

But I would say, you know, when we’re looking forward into, you know, any planning of new housing developments around this airport, this airport will continue to grow, you know, this is our first, you know, we’ve got one runway. Over the next 30, 40, 50 years, it will continue to grow, and it will be incumbent upon local councils and State planning ministers to really make sure we protect those buffers around this airport because otherwise you do get long-term problems with noise when you are developing airports.

But our job now is to try and make sure, as we go forward with these flight paths, as we get towards the opening of this airport in 2026, is to do the best job we possibly can to lower the impact on people. Obviously, the impact is going to be louder or stronger for people who are closer to the runway and, again, you know, we will work through with each of those residents as we go forward in the environmental impact statement process for this airport.

GREG JENNETT: To gain some understanding about that experience, as far as I can tell, 70 decibels is identified as that uncomfortable threshold level where if you were indoors, you may not be able to sustain in the normal manner a conversation without shouting. I see that at Kingsford Smith there are more than 60 flights on average every day that would exceed that 70-decibel level. At comparable distances what are we talking about with Western Sydney International? Are we talking fewer than those number flights that, you know, like-for-like comparison?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, obviously we are. I mean, obviously we’ve got a cap and curfew system on Sydney Airport. It’s capped at 80 flights per what we call a rolling hour and there is a curfew on Kingsford Smith International Airport and that’s because, you know, the density of the population that is around that airport. Anyone who has flown in there will know it’s in the middle, really, in the middle of residential housing and that’s really the focus of that airport.

This airport, you know, the flights will grow over time. It will start smaller, but they will grow over time and that’s really what we’ve announced today. We’ve released those preliminary flight paths, but I’ve deliberately done that with a noise tool that’s been developed to try and help people get as much information and understanding of what the impact will be on their business, on their environment, and on their housing as much as we possibly can, given the information that we have available to us.

GREG JENNETT: And once introduced, do you see the basic design of these paths as staying unchanged or will they be modified to take account of engines that are generally quieter? I think 25 per cent of noise has been cut out of the typical engine in the last couple of decades. So future changes?

CATHERINE KING: Well, certainly we know that aircraft are becoming quieter. We know that that’s been happening over a period of time. But these flight paths have been designed with what the information we know today. Obviously if there’s need for future changes, you know, that will be a matter, again, for future design principles. But, really, this is about looking at the opening in 2026, the runway as it currently is configured, and making sure that those flight paths really do minimise the impacts on residents as much as we possibly can.

GREG JENNETT: Alright, and then the next wave, Catherine King, comes with your draft environmental impact statement which will, I think you’ve said in other places, address noise insulation and property acquisition. I think you’ve also said that funds have been set aside. Can we find those? Are they identified in the budget? And if so, how much?

CATHERINE KING: No, they’re not. They’re part of the overall build of Western Sydney International Airport. As I said, the environmental impact statement, that is where, you know, that’s really the planning process, the planning process for the determination of the final flight paths and then looking at the environmental impacts of those, that will be obviously undertaken by another minister, not me.

And that part of that will be recommendations about, you know, where do we need to insulate houses, where do we need property acquisitions. We’re hoping that that’s not many. That’s always a very significant thing to do for people and we’re hoping that that is not going to be a great deal, but we’re obviously very open, you know, if people are feeling that that’s what needs to happen to talking that through with communities that are directly affected.

GREG JENNETT: Now I know the criteria for future property acquisitions is a part of the still-to-be-published draft EIS, but broadly speaking what would go into consideration there? Is it, you know, older properties, typically? What is your understanding of the parameters for that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, really, we’d be looking at what are the properties that are the most affected by noise. That is really the parameters that we’d be looking at. Where do we want to try and mitigate noise? You know, obviously if there are areas that are sensitive as well, so things like if there are aged care facilities or schools or things that require, you know, really - are more sensitive to having noise in their operations, we’d have a look at that as well. But, again, that will be part of the environmental impact statement process. But really, it is about noise effects is where we’d be looking at. Where it’s the most affected and where are the most affected households and businesses that you might want to have a look at. So that’s what we’ll look at through that process.

GREG JENNETT: Makes sense. All of that lies ahead, I think you said earlier from September. Catherine King, we’ll leave it there and check in with you again on this process a little later.

CATHERINE KING: Great. Thank you very much for having me on, Greg.