NABIL AL-NASHAR, HOST: Minister King, I've seen you here a couple of times before already, but today is the day. You've looked after this project since you know Labor's come to power. How do you feel?

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CATHERINE KING: Well, it's been a long time coming. I've had stewardship of this project for the last five years, and how amazing first passengers out of Western Sydney International Nancy Bird Walton Airport today. There'll be pretty exciting families behind us, but there's also just incredible amounts of people who built this project who are here as part of the opening as well, and they can be so proud of themselves. What a legacy for Western Sydney they built.

AL-NASHAR: Absolutely. And speaking of legacy, I spent quite a bit of time over the past few days looking through our own archives. Politicians and government have been talking about the possibility of a second Sydney airport as far back as 1946. I mean, I found footage from Gough Whitlam’s time where people had all kinds of strong feelings about having an airport, having it here, or Galston, nineteen places considered in the end. What does that say to you about governance and politics in our country when it comes to executing such big projects and successive governments over a long period of time chipping away at it?

KING: Well, it requires perseverance to build really big things, and it requires a lot of investment, a lot of dedication from lots of people. So, from Hawke actually buying the land out here, the hard decisions that were made, a lot of objections at the time to the equipment being built out here. A lot of politicians as well concerned about it, but also those ones that have the great vision to say this is where it's going to go and just stay the course is really important. So staying the course, but trying to make sure you build something that's leaving a lasting legacy. For the people who've worked on this project, it's been extraordinary, but we will see great things to come from Western Sydney. The jobs that this means, the connections that it means, and really, it's the start of a really different way in which the whole of Sydney actually works from now on. Not looking always to the CBD for the jobs, but really looking to the West. And what a great opportunity! If you're a young person just finishing school, or that you're a young person being born in Western Sydney today, to know that there's going to be jobs of the future right in your hometown, your home community, and that's really the legacy that this brings for Western Sydney.

AL-NASHAR: What would you say was the biggest challenge in getting this thing to where it is today?

KING: Well, I think planning approvals are always really difficult, and obviously the flight paths. I wish you could build an airport with no aircraft noise. Maybe one day a hundred years from now there'll be aircraft that don't make any noise at all. But that's a really hard thing, and it does mean there's an impact for local communities. But if we don't build things, then we don't get the jobs. We don't get the growth. We don't actually see the opportunities for people to have great, successful lives. That's part of what we have to do, and that's why I'm so proud to be Infrastructure Minister. That's what I do. I'd like to build lots more, but you know we're always constrained by budgets and have to balance all of that. But I think just those planning decisions are always really hard because there's always people who don't want something to happen, and we've got to try and do the best we can by the environment, by noise, and to do all of those things as best we possibly can, but still build new things.

AL NASHAR: On the noise issue, I've spoken to a few Luddenham residents specifically, or in the immediate vicinity of this airport. They've told me that it's been healthy. It's been really, really difficult, and a couple of them actually extended an invitation directly to you and to the Prime Minister, inviting you over to their homes, and said, "Come sleep in our house for a couple of nights and see how you feel." What do you say to them?

KING: Well, what we've done with the noise amelioration plan, it’s one of the strongest plans in the country. It's because we've been able to build a greenfield airport, have a think about them in terms of the flight paths. We've really thought about noise right the way through and so understand that for particularly people who've never experienced aircraft noise before, it's why we've got a noise amelioration plan. The assessments have been started, and the work will start to actually help ameliorate those households that are eligible shortly, I've asked my department to do that as quickly as possible. But of course, when you're going into people's homes and you're changing the infrastructure in people's homes, we've also got to be very careful about that and make sure that we do the right thing by people as we do that. So, understanding and apologise for the time that it's taking, but we will get there, and we do understand that people are experiencing some of that noise at the moment, and we're doing the best we can to get that noise amelioration in place for those families and households that are eligible as quickly as we can. At the same time, as making sure we're looking after people's houses in the process of doing so.

AL- NASHAR: Thank you so much, Minister. Appreciate it.