Media release - Lindsay the most impacted community under Labor’s flight paths

Melissa McIntosh MP
Shadow Minister for Communications
Shadow Minister for Women
Federal Member for Lindsay

4 June 2025

Lindsay the most impacted community under Labor’s flight paths

Labor’s Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has waited until after the election, avoiding facing the voters of Western Sydney to finally authorise the preliminary flight paths for Western Sydney International Airport.

The Minister has hoodwinked our community for too long, whether it be midnight releases about flight paths or cutting funds from Western Sydney road projects to then re-package the projects as if they were new funding.

It is not surprising then that the Minister announced the flight path authorisation today under the cover of a media announcement about the completion of the runway.

The reality is that our community is going to be the most impacted under Labor’s flight paths, including Luddenham and Mulgoa with altitudes as low as 750 feet and noise levels as high as 90 decibels at Twin Creeks. This is in contrast to the Labor held seat of Macquarie which has benefited from changes to the draft flightpaths.

In her media statement today about the flight path authorisation, Minister King says the authorisation follows extensive community consultation. There is nothing extensive about just two day-time sessions at a Luddenham shop, despite this community being the most impacted by the flight path designs. In my submission to the EIS, I requested further consultation as a top priority along with the following recommendations:

1. The flight path EIS is not equitable. Flight paths need to be more evenly distributed across communities.
2. The policy for noise mitigation measures discriminates between homes within a boundary and homes outside a boundary. All homes of equal noise impact should receive the same noise mitigation if they meet the required decibel levels.
3. The EIS states that property values are going to be negatively impacted. More investigation is required into the impacts of property values and communication of these impacts needs to occur with the community.
4. Three months is not an adequate time frame for a community to absorb complex flight path information, when they have not had to consider this issue previously. Further consultation should be provided to the community of Lindsay, especially those who are significantly impacted, to ensure residents understand the complex flight path information.

The Minister’s media release notes a community engagement forum will be stablished to review flight path and noise issues during the early years of operation. This is standard and the very least the government can do.

I have and always will support Western Sydney Airport – for the jobs and economic opportunities it will bring for our region, however I will also always fight for fair and balanced flight paths for our community. What the Minister announced today is neither of these.