Transcript - ABC Sydney Mornings with Sarah Macdonald

MELISSA MCINTOSH MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR ENERGY AFFORABILITY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WESTERN SYDNEY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR LINDSAY

Friday, 8 November 2024

Subject: Western Sydney International Airport; flight paths.

ABC Sydney radio Mornings program with Sarah Macdonald

Sarah Macdonald

Melissa McIntosh is the Federal Member for Lindsay, the Shadow Minister for Western Sydney and her electorate covers areas around Penrith and the new Western Sydney Airport. Good morning to you.

Melissa McIntosh

Good morning. Thanks for having me on.

Sarah Macdonald

What will this mean for people who live in your area right now?

Melissa McIntosh

The flight paths that were released quite sneakily by the Infrastructure Minister amongst the chaos of the US election are not good for people in my community. And there is no noise sharing. We're pretty much bearing the brunt of the flights. 220 a day, 18 different flight paths. And our concern is, despite the 8,400 submissions, the Minister has made no changes to my electorate at all. And the changes on what we've been able to absorb in a short amount of time are over the Labor electorate of Macquarie, and it looks like maybe some changes over Blacktown, another Labor electorate. So really hoping it's not political decisions right now because as your last caller just stated, it's affecting, it's going to affect people's lives. They're going to be right under the flight paths, multiple flights a day. And I don't think people are going to really understand the noise and the impact of the noise until the planes are flying.

Sarah Macdonald

But I mean, look, you can't help the fact that Penrith is closer to, to the airport than the Blue Mountains is like they've got to come in that you are going to be. It'll be lower and so noisier there. Correct?

Melissa McIntosh

That is true. Of course, they'll be lower because it is closer. But there are options that I think that the Minister hasn't taken up on alternate flight paths and many people made this point in their submissions around ‘why can't you look at other flight paths?’ So yes, we are closer, but we are also unfairly bearing the brunt and that's what we're asking for, just fairness. The airport's coming and like people have been texting you, a lot of people in Western Sydney do support the airport for the jobs it will bring and the opportunities for young people in the future. Other concern is around noise mitigation, and you asked your caller, ‘does she get any noise mitigation?’ And many of the submissions were around fairness to noise mitigation as well. You have to be in a certain sort of boundary to get any form of noise mitigation and you might receive that same noise impact outside of this zone, but you get nothing. So right now, under 100 homes, about 90 odd homes are earmarked for some form of noise Mitigation installation and that's not fair either. And the minister seems to have ignored those submissions as well.

Sarah Macdonald

You're hearing Melissa McIntosh, the Federal Member for Lindsay and the Shadow Minister for Western Sydney, who lives in the region around Penrith and looking at how it will affect their zone. This is the new Western Sydney Airport flight paths that have been released yesterday under the Environmental Impact Statement. The federal Environment Minister has to sign off on them. It's eight minutes to nine on a warm and sunny and windy day. So you mentioned. Yes, people getting noise protection. You mentioned that many are very supportive of it. You said 220 flights a day. Is that in the beginning, in 2026 or. Because this will build over years and there'll be a different Runway that'll come online over the years. So, this is a decade long process.

Melissa McIntosh

Yes, this is based on the noise tool that was released by the minister and so that's what we're working with at the moment. And as far as we can see by the EIS that was released yesterday, there's no change to that. So, you could be enjoying a beer along the Nepean river, the Log Cabin, and it's really low altitude. You could be in your home, and you don't have insulation, so you'll be feeling that impact.

Sarah Macdonald

How loud will it be there? If it's 60 decibels in some parts of the Mountains, which is a conversation, how loud will it be over the region you represent?

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, well, it's at that on takeoff, it's between 5 and 8,000ft. So it's low enough to be disturbing other areas like Twin Creeks, it's really, really low. They're getting multiple flights a day right under the flight path at around 700. People are going to. People's lives are going to change.

Sarah Macdonald

I suppose the thing is we have known this airport's coming for so many years. Years and years and years and years. Decades. We've known that there would be a Western Sydney airport. So how many people do you think bought in the area knowing that compared to those who were there originally?

Melissa McIntosh

Well, we have known that it's been coming. But our argument isn't against the airport. It is against the unfairness of the flight paths in the 2016 is. And Susan made this point for us in Penrith. It was very, very different. The flight paths were very different. So, you may have bought even since that time and wouldn't have expected that you'd have planes going directly over your head. So I think people, it's probably an unfair sort of analysis to think, well, you knew this was coming because people haven't known that they'd be right under the flight paths. And our community had very, very little time to get ready. Over Christmas, the draft was put out and we only had three months, I think it was, to make a submission. And this was over Christmas, and people, you know, were out doing other things. And there was only four information sessions in my electorate out of 54. And we're the most impacted community. So, we haven't had enough consultation. We haven't had enough time.

Sarah Macdonald

All right, thank you so much for your time this morning.

Melissa McIntosh

Thank you.

Sarah Macdonald

There's Melissa McIntosh on ABC radio Sydney.