Opinion - Penrith and the West dudded again by empty promises - The Daily Telegraph - 14 August 2023

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

Penrith and the West dudded again by empty promises
The Daily Telegraph
14 August 2024

The residents of Western Sydney haven’t been very impressed with Albanese Labor government Infrastructure Minister Catherine King’s hoodwinking of their community.

First it was the midnight media releases about flights paths, then it was ripping millions of dollars from essential road upgrades, and now it is zero consultation with community members about the impacts of Western Sydney International Airport flight paths.

Her disconnect with the people of Western Sydney has gotten so bad that last Friday, while a parliamentary Senate hearing was happening in the heart of my electorate, the Minister was also in the electorate.

But not facing the people. She was a couple of kilometres down the road, launching one of my election commitments of an assistance dogs training centre from the 2022 federal election.

Meanwhile, thanks to the government’s 2023 EIS, we now know we are the most impacted community to bear the brunt of the flight paths.

I worked really hard to get the hearing to Penrith so local residents could have their say. And they did exactly that.

Community members talked about the lack of community consultation by the government, including for Luddenham, the village the Albanese Labor government has left behind. Luddenham has only received pop-up community consultation session at their local IGA, despite being closest to the airport. Some residents told the committee they live less than a kilometre from the runway.

And let us have a reminder of some of the Minister’s previous decisions inflicted on the people of Western Sydney. There’s a list now, but probably top of it before the flight paths was when the Minister set up an independent local review of Western Sydney transport infrastructure.

She also cut all federal funding for the M7-M12 interchange near the airport which was already in construction. Mulgoa Rd funding in the Lindsay electorate also got slashed.

After much campaigning, including by The Daily Telegraph, the Minister reinstated some of the funding – and repackaged it as new funding, hoping we wouldn’t notice and would just be grateful. Now she must also be hoping we wouldn’t notice she was in the local area on Friday but didn’t bother to attend an important parliamentary hearing about Western Sydney International Airport flight paths.

I am pleased the centre the Minister launched is finally open, after uncertainty about whether the Government would commit to the funding after the election. But the timing of the launch, which would have been worked on with the Minister’s office and drew considerable media attention, is also questionable.

It’s one thing to claim credit for a previous government’s work, it’s another to play political games on important issues. Fortunately, the people of Western Sydney have cottoned on and aren’t playing. 

*Note: original different to published