Estimates of government expenditure are referred to Senate committees as part of the annual budget cycle. This opportunity to examine the operations of government plays a key role in the parliamentary scrutiny of the executive. One of the most significant features of the procedure for examining estimates is the opportunity that senators have to question officers of the public service directly. BFPCA has engaged the Australian Parliament’s Senate Estimates process to hold the government to account for Brisbane Airport’s excessive noise pollution experienced by Brisbane residents.
BFPCA is grateful to the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport for asking the following questions. BFPCA also thank the offices of various Senators named below for their support in tabling these questions.
On this page we publish video recordings and document answers provided to Questions on Notice (QoN). These written answers can also be retrieved from the Senate’s website.
On this page:
- Budget Estimates 2024 / 2025 (28 / 29 May 2024)
- Additional Estimates 2023 / 2024 (12 Feb 2024)
Budget Estimates 2024 / 2025
📺 Video recording: Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts; hearing date: 28 May 2024
📺 Video recordings: Airservices; hearing date: 29 May 2024
Additional Estimates 2023 / 2024
📺 Video recordings: Airservices; hearing date: 12 Feb 2024
Answers to Questions on Notice: Airservices
41. Post-Implementation Review – Packages 3 and 4
Senator Janet Rice asked:
Senator RICE: For package 3 and package 4 to be implemented, what’s the time line?
Mr Curran: Package 3 is being developed throughout this year, for implementation into next year, and package 4 can start in parallel next year but will likely continue into 2026.
Senator RICE: And will require more staff.
Mr Curran: For the training et cetera, yes. I couldn’t give you an exact number at the moment, but we’re anticipating that the training load for a major change would require some additional staff. It’s not many staff; it’s a small number of licence-rated staff in those particular roles in Brisbane.
Senator RICE: So you’ve got a double-whammy going on, in that you are currently short of staff, compared with where you’d like to be in Brisbane, even to conduct your operations as normal, and then you’ve got this additional load that’s going to be required.
Mr Curran: I think that’s the point that Mr Harfield was making around the change program that we have coming with Brisbane, Western Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Senator RICE: You’ve said that you aren’t able to say now how many extra staff, compared with what you’ve got at the moment, will be needed for the implementation of package 3 and package 4. Could you take that on notice.
Mr Curran: Yes.
Answer: Brisbane operations require 39 air traffic controllers in Airservices’ Terminal Control Unit to provide full service. Airservices plans to have 46 controllers allocated to this airspace by July 2024.
The specific design and operational outcomes of Packages 3 and 4 have not yet been determined. Once this is finalised the associated procedures and training will be developed, and at this point any temporary staffing impacts will be identified.
42. Airservices – Employee Assistance Program
Senator Janet Rice asked:
Senator RICE: What’s the general advice that those EAP counsellors are providing to affected community members seeking help?
Mr Curran: I’ll have to take that on notice. As far as I’m aware, we don’t have any information about the specifics, much like with our employees. But there may be some general themes that we’d be able to provide, on notice, that might be relevant.
Answer: The EAP is a confidential counselling service that is made available to individuals and delivered by a psychologist or relevant professional.
43. Airservices – Brisbane Airport Runway during Daylight Savings
Senator Janet Rice asked:
Senator RICE: […] The CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation wrote to the chair of the AAB, saying: ‘I am pleased to advise you that Airservices has facilitated an official Notice to Airmen update to its operations recognising that Brisbane’s new runway is not to be used for flights over the city from 10pm-6am [5am during daylight saving periods],’ … But wasn’t there already a practice, since the new runway opened, not to use it for flights over the city between 10 pm and 6 am?
Mr Curran: I might provide this quite precisely on notice for you. Certainly, we seek the preferred runway mode between 10 pm and 6 am, which is the mode we discussed before, SODPROPS. There are certain weather conditions in which SODPROPS cannot be implemented, so it is the case that SODPROPS do not occur all the time.
Senator RICE: SODPROPS, in general, between 10 and six. But this notice is actually saying that, during daylight saving periods, it only operates until five. The act, in practice, actually means there is increased early morning noise over Brisbane during daylight saving periods.
Mr Curran: I would like to take that on notice. There is a related matter in regard to turboprops—non-jet aircraft that were departing early from Brisbane. We implemented a change last year to cease that being able to happen. That was one of the changes we implemented last year. I am not sure whether we’re talking about the same thing or something different.
Senator RICE: It seems to me that there were restrictions in place between 10 and six, and now we are being told that in fact during the daylight saving period they stop at five. In fact there is extra noise between five and six.
Mr Curran: That’s certainly not the direction that we’re working towards, in terms of reducing impact. I’d need to check the details of that letter from the Chief Executive Officer of Brisbane Airport Corporation to make sure I’m answering the question correctly.
Answer: Brisbane Airport does not operate on daylight savings time. Consistent with all airport operations, the Brisbane Airport Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) is based on local time and does not change when other states enter daylight savings time.
A Noise Abatement Procedure (NAP) relating to preferred runway use at night – 10pm to 6am local time – has been in place since the new parallel runway opened. This NAP restricts jet aircraft landing on the new runway when approaching over the city and taking off from the new runway when departing over the city. The new runway may be used for arrival or departure over the waters of Moreton Bay.
The NAP allowed departure of some turboprop aircraft between 5am and 6am from the new runway over the city. This aimed to clear some conflicting traffic to allow Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) to continue to operate for jet aircraft as the peak traffic period approaches. Engagement was undertaken based on recommendation 2.4 c) of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane to reduce the impact of aircraft operations during night-time periods which included removing the turboprop departure from the new runway. Turboprop aircraft can depart the legacy runway over the Lytton industrial estate to ensure that SODPROPS can continue to operate and to minimise noise impacts on the Brisbane community.
44. Airservices – SID Height Markers
Senator Janet Rice asked:
Senator RICE: You say that it’s available, but could you take on notice getting the analysis of how much higher the planes actually were over particular communities?
Mr Curran: Yes. We can provide the quarterly reports that we’ve published as well as the full-length departure noise benefit trial from Perth from 2012.
Answer: The noise improvement trial was recommended by the previously established Brisbane Airport Post Implementation Review Advisory Forum (BAPAF) based on community feedback it had received. The aim of the trial was to restrict the use of intersection departures off the new runway over the city. It did not extend to changing aircraft climb gradients or height requirements at particular locations.
The trial was undertaken on the basis that aircraft using the full length of the runway would gain altitude more quickly with the additional runway length compared with using a shorter departure from an intersection of the runway. The community requested this trial through BAPAF in the belief that intersection departures were creating more noise as aircraft would be at a lower altitude than using the full-length departures. The outcomes of the trial resulted in a less than one decibel difference as aircraft gained slightly higher altitudes earlier, but not sufficient altitude to make a perceptible noise difference over residential areas.
Following completion of the trial, the results were consulted with the Brisbane Airport Community Airspace Advisory Board (AAB) which replaced the previous BAPAF, who requested further investigation be undertaken to understand what the establishment of a minimum climb gradient or height requirement could mean for the trial results or noise improvements. This was completed by Airservices and the results were presented in November 2023. It was identified that to have a perceptible noise difference (greater than 3 decibels) at the first community overflown from the new runway (Ascot), aircraft would need to be 50 per cent higher. This would involve a climb gradient of 24 per cent. We engaged with airlines and were advised that this climb gradient is in excess of the capability of most aircraft. Aircraft that could not meet the climb gradient would have to be diverted off the Standard Instrument Departure, resulting in newly overflown communities.
The noise improvement trial ran from February 2022 to February 2023, with quarterly reports provided on the Brisbane Airport Flight Path Changes Post Implementation Review page on Engage Airservices.
The aircraft altitudes achieved during the trial are detailed in attached table.
45. Airservices – Breakdown of Expenditure on Consultants and Community Engagement Services
Senator Bridget McKenzie asked:
Senator McKENZIE: How much are we spending on consultants and community engagement services?
Mr Curran: Throughout 2023, I can give you the expenditure for our Brisbane activities. The total spend in relation to Brisbane was $373,017. I can give you some breakdown of that, if you wish.
Senator McKENZIE: On notice will be fine.
Answer: The figure of $373,017 detailed by Airservices at the hearing is for specific engagement activities for Brisbane, including newspaper and radio advertising and letterbox drops.
The total contract value issued in 2023 for consultants to support community engagement activity was $230,300 (excluding GST) for Brisbane. This included:
- $100,000 (excluding GST) for additional community engagement personnel to support
engagement events; and - $130,300 (excluding GST) to review and record feedback submissions.
46. Airservices – Total FTE for Community Engagement and Consultation
Senator Bridget McKenzie asked:
Senator McKENZIE: I want to go to community engagement. How many FTEs do you currently employ for community engagement and consultation?
Mr Curran: I will have to take on notice the total FTE for community engagement.
Answer: Airservices Australia’s community engagement team consists of 11 full time equivalent (FTE).
47. Airservices – SODPROPS data for Brisbane Airport
Senator Matthew Canavan asked:
Senator CANAVAN: […] Are you able to provide the SODPROPS data to us for both day and night-time operations in a spreadsheet format for the Brisbane airport since the last estimates?
Mr Harfield: Yes, we can, Senator.
Senator CANAVAN: Just to be clear, that should include the dates, the number of SODPROPS flights and hours of operations of SODPROPS as well.
Answer: Please refer to Committee Question Number 55 (SQ23-004806) from the 2023-2024 Supplementary Budget Estimates hearing for Brisbane SODPROPS data for the period 1 June 2023 – 30 September 2023.
Brisbane SODPROPS data for the period 1 October 2023 to 29 February 2024 is provided in Attachment A.
49. Airservices – SODPROPS data for Brisbane
Senator Matthew Canavan asked:
Senator CANAVAN: I don’t know exactly what the metric should be. I would have thought there would be some measure here that you benchmark and say, ‘This many people for this amount of time were impacted previously, and now because of what we’ve done we’ve achieved a reduction in X amount.’
Mr Curran: Perhaps to convert these into percentages might be more meaningful for committee members. The data I have to share with you today is the total minutes it has been available that we’ve used SODPROPS— the change that I was talking about—which was 27,132 for the second half of last calendar year. Those are the sort of meaningful metrics that we can give to communities. We can also give those by time of day—daytime, evening and nighttime. And typically when we find and engage with communities there are more sensitive hours obviously than others. They are very interested in those kinds of details as well. We do publish this data on our website on a quarterly basis.
Senator CANAVAN: Are you saying 27,000 hours you’ve used these SODPROPS?
Mr Curran: Yes.
Senator CANAVAN: Am I right to say those 27 hours previously—that’s over a year, is it?
Mr Curran: It’s over six months from June to December 2023.
Senator CANAVAN: If without the use of these SODPROPS, would those 27,000 hours have been flying over people’s houses?
Mr Curran: I don’t think we can just draw that straight conclusion. We have had SODPROPS in use. We’ve sought to use it more, and so there’s probably another level of detail we would need to provide you on notice.
Senator CANAVAN: I am trying to assess what we have done or the impact. That doesn’t work either. Maybe you can take that on notice. Can we get an estimate of what has been the impact of the changes on people living in Brisbane?
[…]
Senator CANAVAN: You said you used SODPROPS before. […] What was it for the six months for the second half of 2022?
Mr Curran: I would have to take that on notice.
Senator CANAVAN: Can you get me going back to 2019, before COVID. Once we get too far back we will start getting into the COVID period. Can you get me the last six months of 2019 and going forward?
Mr Curran: I can’t go earlier than the runway opening, which was in July 2020, because we weren’t using that mode of operation. I can go back to the runway opening in July 2020.
Senator CANAVAN: Yes, okay, because it’s still coming up as an issue, that’s all.
Answer: The use of Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS) in Brisbane aims to maximise flights over water and minimise the impact on the community.
The following table provides data on total SODPROPS availability and movements since the introduction of the new runway. SODPROPS was not possible prior to the new runway commencing operations.
| Year | SODPROPS availability (shown in hours) | SODPROPS availability (shown in minutes) | SODPROPS movements |
| 2019 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2020 (from 1 August) | 892.4 | 53545 | 4836 |
| 2021 | 1583.6 | 95015 | 9266 |
| 2022 | 1229.1 | 73748 | 8196 |
| 2023 | 766.3 | 45976 | 4661 |
In general, 50% of all operations in Brisbane will be over water due to the orientation of the parallel runways – either arrivals occur over water and departures over land, or arrivals over land and departures over water, depending on the prevailing wind conditions at the time.
SODPROPS seeks to increase the percentage of over water operations by having both arrivals and departures occur over water, when conditions allow. SODPROPS is the preferred operating mode at night, reducing the impact on communities at sensitive times.
The impact of using SODPROPS mode since runway opening in 2020 is that approximately 13,000 flights did not operate over communities close to the airport.
128. AIRSERVICES – Community Engagement
Senator Bridget McKenzie asked:
- Can you provide a list of all 2023-24 engagement projects or programs you have ongoing?
- When was your last community pop up event? Where was it?
- How does Airservices compare value for money on time performance?
- How much of the annual budget is on stakeholder engagement?
Answer:
- 2023-24 Engagement Projects in progress as at 29 February 2024:
- Flight Path Changes:
o Noise Action Plan for Brisbane;
o Western Sydney International Airport – supporting Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts;
o Melbourne Aircraft Continuous Descent Operations (CDO) Trial;
o Gold Coast Airport Noise Monitoring Review;
o Sunshine Coast Airport Airspace Changes Post Implementation Review;
o Hobart Community and Industry Suggested Alternatives;
o Port Lincoln Airport – New Arrivals Approach to Runway 01; and
o Increased Surveillance Services for 4 Towers – Hobart, Launceston, Mackay and Rockhampton. - National PFAS Management Program (landholder engagement):
o Rockhampton Detailed Site Investigation (DSI)
o Gold Coast DSI;
o Launceston DSI;
o Melbourne DSI;
o Hobart DSI; and
o Canberra DSI.
- Most recent community event was on 20 January 2024: Western Sydney International Airport drop-in session at Arncliffe
- The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) reports the on time performance of major domestic airlines each month. Airservices also reports this data in its Australian Aviation Network Overview reports. On time performance may be affected by a range of factors including weather, airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers.
- The 2023-24 Airservices Community Engagement business unit budget is $3,330,260 inclusive of resourcing, advertising and venue hire.
Larger programs also include community engagement budget (inclusive of resourcing, advertising and venue hire):
- Noise Action Plan for Brisbane: $1,850,000;
- Western Sydney International Airport: $1,100,000; and
- National PFAS Management Plan: $497,000.
132. AIRSERVICES – Continuous Descent Technology (CDT)
Senator Bridget McKenzie asked:
- Does Airservices have any priority list for the implementation of CDT, if so, please provide a list in order of priority?
- What airports are planned to have CDT implemented over the next ten years and by what date?
- Are there any constraints on implementing CDT at all major airports and what, if any, are they?
- Will CDT be implemented at Sydney Airport? If so, by what date?
Answer:
- Following is the list for implementing Continuous Descent Operations (CDO) in the order of priority:
a. Melbourne
b. Sydney
c. Perth
d. Brisbane - The initial plan to implement CDO, is for 4 high-density airports listed below. Based on the outcome of the trials on these initial 4 airports, expansion of the CDO will be considered for other airports.
a. Melbourne – trials commenced in December 2022, with a plan to transition into routine operations in Quarter two (Q2) 2024;
b. Sydney (only specific to arrivals from oceanic) – trials planned to commence in Q4-2024;
c. Perth – trials planned to commence in Q4-2024; and
d. Brisbane (specific to arrivals from oceanic) – trials planned to commence in 2025. - Complexity of the airspace (e.g. current airspace design, special use airspace, flight paths, volume/mixture of traffic etc.) can constrain CDO’s implementation.
- Please see response to question 2b.
134. AIRSERVICES – Brisbane Suburbs noise complaints
Senator Janet Rice asked:
- Please provide an updated list of the suburbs where complainants reside that have contacted the Airservices Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS) in relation to Brisbane Airport or Archerfield Airport over the period July 2020 to February 2024.
- What budget has been allocated to the resource the NCIS team in the last and in this financial year?
- What proportion of the budget and NCIS resources is going to deal with complaints from Greater Brisbane considering that the volume of complaints is greater than all other complains across the country combined?
Answer:
- Attachment A lists the suburbs of complainants that have contacted the Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS) in relation to Brisbane Airport over the period July 2020 to February 2024 [227 suburbs].
- Attachment B lists the suburbs of complainants that have contacted the NCIS in relation to Archerfield Airport over the period July 2020 to February 2024 [153 suburbs].
- The 2023-24 Airservices NCIS budget is $1,122,134. In 2022-23 the NCIS budget was $765,505.
- Approximately 37 per cent of NCIS resources were allocated to Brisbane complaints in
- This is based on the proportion of total complaints responded to nationally and those responded to for Brisbane.
135. AIRSERVICES – SODPROPS extended weekend hours
Senator Janet Rice asked:
From 7 May 2022, Airservices announced the SODPROPS Weekend Extension Trial, which reintroduced SODPROPS from 6-8am Sat/Sun and 8pm-10pm Sat.
- Why has Airservices stopped producing reports on this trial for more than 12 months now?
- How often have ATCs actually been able to put Brisbane Airport into SODPROPS mode during those extended weekend hours over the last 12 months?
- Please provide the missing data in the same format as in the 2022 quarterly reports, including:
- Total hours of SODPROPS between 6am – 8am on weekends
- Number of flights directed over the bay between 6am – 8am on weekends
- Total hours of SODPROPS between 8pm – 10pm on weekends
- Number of flights directed over the bay between 8pm – 10pm on weekends
- Total hours SODPROPS was used over a 24 hour period
- Number of flights directed over the bay during SODPROPS operations.
Answer:
- Reporting on the trial ceased when the trial ended in February 2023. The trial enabled more aircraft to operate over water and therefore away from communities, and as a result, it was determined to adopt the trial on a permanent basis, where weather and safety conditions permitted its use.
As part of the Noise Action Plan for Brisbane, recommendation 1.4, Airservices is developing public reporting to increase transparency of operations which will include SODPROPS use, Noise Abatement Procedures use, aircraft tracking and altitude and noise complainant and complaint reporting. - The total hours and number of aircraft movements achieved during the ongoing extended SODPROPS hours over the past 12 months (1 February 2023 to 31 January 2024) are provided below.
| Saturday and Sunday 6am to 8am | |
| Total hours weather and safety conditions permitted the use of SODPROPS between 6am – 8am on weekends | 12.8 hours |
| Number of flights directed over the bay during SODPROPS between 6am – 8am on weekends | 200 |
| Saturday and Sunday 8pm to 10pm | |
| Total hours weather and safety conditions permitted the use of SODPROPS between 8pm – 10pm on weekends | 38.9 hours |
| Number of flights directed over the bay during SODPROPS between 8pm – 10pm on weekends | 364 |
| Total SODPROPS 24 hours, 7 days a week | |
| Total hours SODPROPS was used over this period | 729.2 hours |
| Number of flights directed over the bay during SODPROPS operations | 4582 |
To operate SODPROPS, specific weather conditions are required including:
- dry runway;
- less than 5 knots in either direction (tailwind);
- cloud base not lower than 2500ft; and
- visibility of a minimum of 8km.
As a low capacity mode, total traffic of less than 20 arrivals per hour is also required to operate in this mode.