ANNE STANLEY MP, MEMBER FOR WERRIWA: I’m Anne Stanley, the Federal Member for Werriwa, and this has been eight years of amazing, just wonderful things done by the people of Western Sydney, the Board of Western Sydney Airport Corporation, and we're just so excited that finally Western Sydney is on the map, and we are able to open to the rest of the world. I'll leave it to Catherine to speak to you.

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CATHERINE KING: Thanks. Well, what a great day for Western Sydney, and thanks everybody for being here. It's an incredible legacy that has been left by all of the construction workers who've been part of this magnificent project. Over 40 years in the making. Eight years of construction, where we've seen over 13,000 people work on this site, and what an amazing thing to have happen. We know that when this airport reaches its 10 million passengers in the 2030s, over 8,500 people will be working in this precinct. It really is about that. It's the jobs and the opportunity for the future of Western Sydney, and we're so delighted as a government to have worked to deliver this project and to work across a range of governments in actually ensuring that this has come to fruition. You can see the excited faces on the families heading on the first flight out to the Gold Coast today, passenger flights starting today, Air New Zealand tomorrow, and it's really opening Western Sydney up to the world. I might get the CEO Simon Hickey just to say a few words, and then happy to take some questions after that. I know you've all been here for a long time as well, and you've got some deadlines, so we'll be pretty quick. Thank you. Thanks, Simon.

SIMON HICKEY, WSI AIRPORT CEO: Thank you, Minister. Well, what a great day! Today we're making aviation history, and from today, more than two and a half million Sydneysiders are closer to their new airport. That's fantastic. I'd also like to acknowledge the really hard work of more than 10,000 workers, the millions of hours worked, more than half of those workers came from Western Sydney, and through many eras of COVID, floods, and many other challenges, continued to strive and deliver this project on time and on budget, and for them, this is their legacy project. This is the one you bring your grandkids to, and you say, "I built that airport." Thank you.

KING: Happy to take questions, Simon first or me.

JOURNALIST: Minister, do you think this will put downward pressure on prices for Sydneysiders and more broadly?

KING: Well, certainly, what it does do is increases the competition that's here in the Sydney Basin. Obviously, having the capacity constraints that were happening at Kingsford Smith, putting more airlines, more passengers into the system certainly does help with competition. And certainly, we would hope that that also does, with competition, brings some downward pressure for prices. Obviously, one of the biggest costs aviation has got at the moment is the cost of fuel, and that is putting pressure on airlines across the world at the moment. But certainly, with more competition coming here, freeing up that capacity constraint that was here in the Sydney Basin with the new Western Sydney International Nancy Bird Walton Airport can only be a good thing for aviation in the country.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the price for Brent crude is at its highest since April, and aviation fuel prices are soaring at the moment. Travellers flying out of this new airport will benefit from the increased competition but will still face costly airfares. Is this the right time in your mind to be pushing ahead with sustainable aviation fuel requirements that airlines say will put upward pressure on ticket prices?

KING: Well, we're certainly consulting at the moment on a low-carbon liquid fuel industry here in Australia. We know that airports and airlines are, some of them – airlines – are already captured by the safeguard mechanism, so they've got obligations in terms of their emissions. And what we'd like to see is how they meet those emissions is actually helping Australian industry at the same time. We export over 60% of Australian canola, gets sent overseas and then comes back and gets sold to Australians, whether it's through SAF or other low-carbon liquid fuels. So we know from the industry itself that it has said that it needs both a supply mechanism, which we've been doing through our $1.1 billion investment, and it needs a demand mechanism. Now we're consulting on that at the moment. We will obviously look at the issues of timing, the type, all of those things, and consult with the airlines as we go through that. That is the phase that we're at at the moment. Only on consultation, but I do want to see a low-carbon liquid fuel industry. It's good for our farming industry, good for our regional communities, and it's good for our fuel security in the longer term. And that's the view that we have to have: the long-term sustainability, the long-term resiliency of our fuel security here in this country. And that's part of what we've been doing with the low-carbon liquid fuels.

JOURNALIST: Simon, how important was it to achieve bipartisan support from many prime ministers leading up to this project? And do you think this is a good example of when political differences are put aside, what can come out of that?

HICKEY: It's been tremendous for us to have bipartisan support because it takes multiple years to actually get an airport planned and then constructed. So we've been really blessed with that, and that is because of the benefits that this airport brings. But I would go back to the current Prime Minister and his very first speech in Parliament was about the need for a Western Sydney Airport, and so that really demonstrates that the current government has really helped us through for now a number of years, Minister, and that's been tremendous support. So I think that it's been great for infrastructure when you do get bipartisan support. It means that you can have consistency and knowledge, ensuring in what you're doing and delivering. And that's because the benefits are so outstanding.

JOURNALIST: What sense are you getting about forward bookings? Given that we've seen the first flight take off, it's the start of what's to come. What sense are you getting about forward booking?

HICKEY: So the airlines are telling me that things are looking really good. What we need to do is, you know, Western Sydney International's a brand-new greenfield airport, so it needs to get on the map. So we're going to continue to promote this airport with travel operators around the world, so that people come here and they know how easy it is to get through to wherever their travel destination is. This actually opens up new travel destinations for people visiting Sydney. So, for example, we're close to the Blue Mountains. We can get to Parramatta without a set of traffic lights. You can get to the CBD without a set of traffic lights. You can explore the South Coast or the Central Coast, so all of that has come within reach, and all of those areas, including the Hunter Valley and the Southern Highlands, will continue to benefit. So we have a bit of a job to do internationally in making sure people know we're ready, we're open for business, and that it's a great travel experience. We know our two and a half million people that live close to this airport are booking, and I'm really pleased that it's opening up.

JOURNALIST: This is an international airport, and you know that you want to attract visitors from around the world. Looking around at some of the signage diagrams that all of it’s in English. Do you have any signs that are in other languages? I know that Western Sydney is quite a multicultural community.

HICKEY: It is a multicultural community. 170 different ancestries live here in Western Sydney. The way that we've got wayfinding is that you're able to use your phone, and it will change. You can choose for the wayfinding that's on your phone on our app, you can choose the language in which you want to understand how that's being translated, and so that's the most efficient and effective way for us to do it. We've also used signs that are universal, if you like, and so it's quite clear where you can get food, where the bathrooms are, even where the puppy bathroom is, as you travel with your favourite family member, perhaps.

JOURNALIST: While this is geographically closer to two and a half million people who live near the airport, without that rail link connection at this point in time, is it actually going to be a financial benefit for people still having to use their own fuel and take their car into the parking lot?

HICKEY: So there are so many ways to get to and from Western Sydney International Airport. The number one is the brand new M12 motorway, and it's toll-free. It connects to the M7, and therefore pretty much every other motorway in Sydney, and so that is by far the number one. And people in Western Sydney they travel by car, and so really giving them that opportunity to get here that is the most important. We've also upgraded the Northern Road, and we're upgrading, or the government is upgrading all the surrounding roads as well, so all of that is in place. We have five new bus routes, public bus routes that go to the surrounding cities. We've got if you're coming by train, go to St Mary's, and there's a free shuttle service that goes from St Mary's to the airport. And then we've got the super shuttle. The super shuttle is a bus that connects you directly to Parramatta or the CBD or Kingsford Smith Airport. We've got rideshare with Uber. We've got taxis. So there is just so many opportunities to get to and from that people are going to find that a very easy journey to get. Of course, when the metro comes, that will add another addition to the ease in which you can travel to and from Western Sydney International.

JOURNALIST: But in terms of cost?

HICKEY: So cost, if you're traveling by rail today, five or $6 from the CBD to St Mary's and a free shuttle service. So that's obviously cheaper than pretty much any other airport in Australia. We've got for a time at the moment we've got three hours free parking, so you can come, you can see people off, you can grab a coffee, you can experience the airport. This is our community's airport. We want them to come. So we've thought about how to ensure that there's an appropriate cost at the moment, and of course there are expensive ways to get to and from the airport, but if you live closer to this airport, then it is cheaper to get to this airport than it is to get to any other airport. So we've got to remember that most people that will be using this airport, they live around this airport, and it will be cheaper to get to and from this airport.

JOURNALIST: [Indecipherable] “new look energy” that’s powering this airport. Could you talk about that a little bit more?

HICKEY: So in terms of sustainability, we've really leaned into sustainability. I think it's important for aviation and for aviation future to look at sustainability, and so we've actually got solar panels. Our roof, all of the roofs, we've got across this airport have solar panels, and we've got all of the equipment that is airside is electric equipment. And so we've actually leased that equipment, and then we lease that through us to the airlines, and that ensures that we have the most sustainable airport airside. There aren't the dirty diesels that are trundling around airside. We've got five-minute taxi time, so that means in a modern, efficient airport, you're burning less fuel on the ground. So all across the airport, we've tried to think about how we can improve sustainability in an airport. We've got passive air that flows through this airport. You can feel it right at the moment. It's actually really comfortable, and we've thought about all of those elements. So we're trying to bring together here in Western Sydney International one of the most sustainable airports in the world today.

JOURNALIST: Minister, can I just grab you just briefly on a national issue. Do you think, given what's happened in the last week or so, that security at Parliament needs to be reassessed, and potentially even security at electorate offices as well?

KING: We are very well looked after by the Australian Federal Police at Parliament House, and obviously they will review any security that they need to do, both at Australian Parliament House and at our electorate offices. We regularly have services coming in and having a look at that, and whether we need to do that. And obviously, over the 25 years I've been a member of Parliament, we have seen that increase over time. I didn't have any cameras at all in my office when I first started, just a reception desk. Anybody could have jumped over if they wanted to. We now have quite a different environment within electorate offices. But of course, they're always looking at that. But at the same time, the very nature of the jobs that we do, we're interacting with people all the time, and so we should be. You only learn and understand what's happening in your community by being part of it and being part of it means being amongst it. And you know, obviously, there are heightened concerns after what the terrible events that have happened with beautiful Helen. But you know, I certainly think that we all look at our security all the time, and I'm sure the Australian Federal Police will be no different. Thanks, everybody.