Media statement - Labor ignores pleas of thousands of residents in Western Sydney Airport preliminary flight paths EIS

Melissa McIntosh MP 
Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability 
Shadow Minister for Western Sydney 
Federal Member for Lindsay  

MEDIA STATEMENT 

7 November 2024 

Labor ignores pleas of thousands of residents in Western Sydney Airport preliminary flight paths EIS 

Today, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has again put out a media release with next to no information on the Western Sydney International Airport flight paths which impact the Lindsay community more than any other. However, the Labor Member for Macquarie seems to have had an early heads up, being quick off the back of the Minister’s announcement with her own media release in response. This is how Labor operates - it's all about politics.  

It is no surprise the Minister released the EIS the day after the US election, when the media is consumed by this coverage. She released the noise tool and draft EIS both at midnight under the cover of darkness. The people of Western Sydney are not going to be hoodwinked by these tactics.  

For residents in our community, from Penrith to St Marys and Llandilo to Luddenham, it looks like there have been no changes to make the flight paths more evenly distributed and fair, despite over 8,000 submissions in response to the draft EIS. However, there have been movements for the marginal Labor seat of Macquarie, with two flight path changes over the Blue Mountains recently announced, and now another removal and refinements.  

In her statement today, Minister King says the EIS follows months of consultation. This is not true. One of the key points in my EIS submission was the lack of consultation and communications for the local community. There were 56 community information sessions, and only four occurred in Lindsay; the most flight impacted community. There was one community information stall at the Luddenham IGA, on a Sunday when it was raining. As the community closest to the Airport, one pop up stall for Luddenham is hardly satisfactory. 

One of the biggest issues raised by community members was the lack of noise mitigation measures in the draft EIS. Less than 100 homes were earmarked for some form of insulation. We will be examining the EIS in more detail to see if the Minister has addressed any of these concerns, but on first read it looks as if she has not.  

The flight path EIS is not equitable. Flight paths need to be more evenly distributed across communities. 

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. 

Three months, over last Christmas, was not an adequate time frame for a community to absorb complex flight path information, when they have not had to consider this issue previously.  

Unfortunately, it seems the Minister has not taken on any recommendations for our community. I encourage residents to continue to raise their concerns directly with Minister King, and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek who will now review the EIS, as we deserve to be heard, and for the flight paths to be fair.