May 11th, 1999
Senator K O’Brien
Senator S Mackay
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
URGENT
Dear Sir
RE Draft Master Plan (DMP) for Perth Airport Development
Hansard Record Miss-Information Given to You
An Extract from Hansard’s Senate Estimates Committee, suggests that you were misinformed in the House in relation to the Perth Airport Noise issue. Unfortunately you did not have the benefit of all the facts and seemingly relied on the inaccurate and incomplete press reports.
To confirm my point I refer to the following extract shown at pages ????? of Hansard.
Thursday, 6 May 1999 SENATE—Legislation RRA&T 477
Output Class 2—Airports
Mr Elliott—The master plan as submitted does not include a noise insulation proposal. What it includes is a proposal to establish an aircraft noise abatement committee, as I understand it, which would then consider various options for noise amelioration of one sort or another.
Senator MACKAY—This is prospectively in relation to post-2018. People are alleging that there may be a noise problem after 2018 if the plan is approved. I am going on press reports.
Mr Elliott—I think that is what people are saying, yes.
Senator MACKAY—So there is a noise abatement committee which is addressing that particular problem that has been raised. Would that be a fair summation?
Mr Elliott—Yes. The airport operator is saying that it will establish a noise abatement committee to address the problem in detail.
Senator MACKAY—So this is really a matter for the airport owners. Would that be the view?
Mr Elliott—Yes.
Senator MACKAY—I think Senator O’Brien has covered the issue of the Olympics. Does the department or anybody have a view of the potential congestion problems in the baggage halls? I understand Qantas has raised concerns—
Mr Harris—At PERTH?
Senator MACKAY—No, Sydney, for the Olympics.
Mr Harris—Yes, the issue was considered at length in the design work that Sydney airport undertook for its terminal extension. I think the Public Works Committee got some advice on that at the time that the propositions went up, but there has certainly been a lot of subsequent consideration of this issue. Baggage handling on the key departure day in ranking order would be one of the highest issues of significance for how the airport will cope with the pressures on the day after the closing ceremony for the summer games. It is and continues to be an issue of serious consideration in the Olympics planning process.
Senator MACKAY—What remedial strategies are being considered in relation to this?
Mr Harris—Potentially off-airport processing of passengers and baggage.
CHAIR—Does the department know—and I do not want you to do a lot or research on this—if, when PERTH airport was established and built, in fact there were only about 41 houses that were adjacent to the airport? It seems all the other buildings that have been built there and surround those houses have been purchased with the purchasers’ full knowledge that they got them at a reduced price because of the fact that they were near an airport. With most of those buildings the noise, if I can put it that way, is coming from people who established their residences well after PERTH airport was established. Do you have any figures on that? Can you confirm that the owners of 41 or 43 houses are the only ones who could presumably say, ‘They came out and dumped an airport on us’?
Mr Mrdak—We cannot readily confirm that number but certainly, as with all airports, there has been an expansion of housing towards airports right around Australia.
CHAIR—If you have any information that is readily available about that, I would like it. A fair bit of political nonsense, as I put it, is going on in PERTH now—it is a beat-up—with regard to PERTH airport. It is, in my view, quite unjustified. Thank you.
(Underlining Mine)
The underlined text is a clear indication that the information passed on was misleading, but more seriously, that the Senate does not have a clear understanding of the facts in issue.
The suburbs to be affected by the Perth airport noise DMP lie to the south of the existing runway by some 5 to 8 Kms. And are not in the neighborhood of the airport. These suburbs existed well before the airport arrived and are only recently experiencing severe aircraft noise.
The most seriously affected area of Queens Park and Cannington are currently within the range of an estimated 20 to 30ANE levels, and with the threefold increase in predicted air traffic within 18 years the suburbs will lie within the 30-40 ANE levels. Some 7000 homes are affected therein. We are extremely concerned over the lack of any noise audit ever having been undertaken in the area, and the potential destruction of our area by stealth (no public consultation) as a result of the implications of the airports DMP. Ultimately there will be in excess of 30,000 affected residents in the southern corridor affected by the projected and destructive noise pollution.
The issue is most certainly not "a beat up" nor is it unjustified.
I also question the accuracy to the direct question from Senator Mackay "So there is a noise abatement committee which is addressing that particular problem that has been raised. Would that be a fair summation?" To which Mr Elliott replied "Yes….".
There is NOT a noise abatement committee set up in Perth.
There are no plans for a noise abatement committee.
The WAC indicated that they will establish one at some time in the future (possibly in 20 years time) when they have their current noise pollution plans approved by the Minister. At present they refuse to defer their DMP plans to enable a noise abatement committee to be formed.
Enclosed is a comprehensive letter recently sent to your fellow Senators and MPs in the House of Representatives. It sets out the problems currently being experienced in Perth and requests that the DPM does not receive approval from the Minister, Mr John Anderson.
Could you please take the time to examine the issue carefully and ensure that the Hansard record and most importantly the Senate is made properly aware of the facts.
Finally, could you please forward a copy of this letter the Senator who had the Chair on that day.
Our web site on the Perth airport noise issue is at www.geocities.com/RainForrest/Jungle/6748. It makes good reading.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully
Mr Hank B Schokker
Vice President and Spokesperson.
cc All Senators