60 Reasons to Protest: Reason #13 – The Aviation White Paper
One of Labor’s election promises was to update the old 2009 Aviation Policy “White Paper” from the Rudd / Albo era. About a year ago, when Catherine King MP was still Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, she proclaimed:
“While Brisbane residents are bearing the brunt of aircraft noise, Brisbane is not the only city in Australia where residents are facing new and increasing issues. To deal with this and other issues across the country, Labor will commission a new white paper to take a detailed and coordinated look at our national aviation policy framework. It will address aircraft noise and airport planning, but also the future of general and training aviation and help set the sector up for a new era of competition and prosperity.
The last white paper of this type was delivered by Anthony Albanese way back in 2009, and since then the Morrison-Joyce Government has allowed policy to drift.
An Albanese Labor Government will step up to work with the local community, enable their voices to be heard and chart a better future for Australian aviation.”
What do we know so far?
The Labor Government has allocated $7 million to this exercise, but the Department had to take on notice a breakdown of how these funds will be allocated. Their response has now been received:
“Of the total $7 million funding for the delivery of the Aviation White Paper, $3.1 million is allocated for the 2022-23 Financial Year and $3.9 million is allocated for the 2023-24 Financial Year.
Funding is being used for a range of purposes including the establishment of a branch of up to 20 staff over the two years identified; engagement of consultants to provide specialist advice and services; consultation at different stages of the Green and White Papers’ delivery, including travel expenses and venue hire; design, typesetting and then production of the Green and White Papers; and procurement of any legal or expert advice required.”
The Minister does not want the final White Paper to be released until mid 2024 (!) so they worked backwards from there, and the timeline has been dragged out over a 12-18 months period as a result. We already had to wait 9 months just to get the draft Terms of Reference released with a consultation period that closed 10 March 2023. Using the cookie cutter approach of the 2009 approach, there will first be a draft “Green Paper” mid 2023 and more consultation and submissions, so we don’t expect the actual White Paper until 2024.
The submissions to the draft Terms of Reference have now been loaded onto the Department’s website. Of the 175 public submissions, most of them are written by the aviation industry and their lobby groups. However, we note that 27 submissions specifically express concerns about noise pollution, 27 mention that the role of the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman (ANO) should be removed from Airservices and made truly independent, and 43 argue that the health impacts of aircraft noise need to be considered.
BFPCA’s own submission obviously addresses all three issues extensively.
Albanese’s Aviation White Paper 2009
On 29 Nov 2006, Kevin Rudd – who fought BAC for years – conceded:
“I have stated repeatedly on the public record that I do not believe that I can now stop this thing from proceeding, because I have been defeated in the courts on this question. […] The challenge is to manage the impact of this [new runway], and therefore my request to the federal government will be to work with me and other representatives to develop an effective noise management plan for this new major imposition on Brisbane’s southside residents.”
On 18 Sep 2007, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mark Vaile, announced approval for the construction of the New Parallel Runway at Brisbane Airport. This approval occurred only 29 days before the Australian Government went into caretaker mode with the issue of electoral writs on 17/10/2007 for the Australian federal election held on 24/11/2007. Rudd became Prime Minister of Australia on 3 Dec 2007, with Albanese as his Minister for Infrastructure & Transport.
Now that Rudd and Albanese were promoted to the two most senior officers in government, did they create the “effective noise management plan” proposed by Rudd only a year earlier?
No, they did not. Instead, Albanese went through the “green paper” and “white paper” motions and eventually published his Aviation Policy White Paper in 2009. It says:
“Further, in his approval of the Brisbane Airport Master Plan in September 2009, the Minister [Albo] detailed the steps Brisbane Airport Corporation would be taking to improve the way it engages with nearby communities and responds to their concerns, particularly in relation to aircraft noise. The Minister [Albo] also committed to the periodic review of the need for a curfew at the Airport.” (p. 208)
Do you want to know more about the curfew review?
Ironically, it is Minister Catherine King in the current Albanese Government who is now categorically ruling out to even consider a curfew for Brisbane. The curfew option was removed from the scope of the PIR, and the five community members of the new Airport Advisory Board (AAB) have been gagged and are not allowed to even mention it.
It’s time to protest to get our curfew back and put some checks and balances in place.
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