Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This bill is an attempt to reform the slot management at Sydney airport, following extensive criticism of the current system. It's an amendment to the original legislation that put in a cap and curfew at Sydney airport. Sydney communities fought hard to get that cap and curfew in the 1990s. They're not perfect, but they are effective and they protect Sydney residents from the worst of flight noise from the airport. Now we see the government preserving and protecting the cap and curfew at Sydney airport, and the Greens have moved an amendment calling on the government to consider a cap and curfew for other airports, including Brisbane. We ask again: if it is good enough for Sydney, why is it not good enough for Brisbane? Why is it that Sydney gets a cap and curfew but Brisbane gets none of those protections?

All we're asking for is reasonable reforms and regulations, not to shut down the airport. All we're asking for is exactly what Sydney has. The Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance recently ran a community pulse survey of 1,600 residents, and they found some pretty shocking results. As the member for Ryan and the member for Brisbane have said, the impact of flight noise and flight noise pollution on residents across Australia is devastating. It is not a trivial issue. It has serious impacts on health—physical and mental—and, as we've found out from recent independent health surveys in Melbourne, it can also affect childhood development. Here's what the survey found.

Ninety-four per cent of the 1,600 respondents said their sleep is disrupted by aircraft noise, and 53 per cent said it's at least twice a night. Sixty-six per cent of respondents said they are considering moving house to avoid flight noise, though many of them feel trapped and can't afford to. Fifty-seven per cent said they have physical symptoms of stress caused by aircraft noise. These are devastating impacts for the people being impacted by the issue in Brisbane but also residents across Australia being impacted by flight noise and flight noise pollution.

The only real, substantial shift in reducing the impact of flight noise in Brisbane has been achieved by the Greens. We have secured a direction from the minister to ensure that SODPROPS—in other words, flights departing and arriving over the water—is the preferred operating mode, 24 hours, at Brisbane airport. This is the first big shift we have seen since the second runway at Brisbane airport was proposed.

The question everyone is asking is: why is it so hard to get reasonable regulations? Qantas and Virgin certainly wield enormous amounts of power over our political system and functionally act like a duopoly, similar to Coles and Woolworths. We have seen their political power and the impact it has on decisions that are made in parliament. Tinkering around the edges with slot reform won't fix the fundamental issues with the Australian aviation industry, which is a highly-concentrated, monopolised market that pursues corporate profit over communities, customers and workers.

When in government during the pandemic, the coalition gave $2.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies to Qantas, which was never repaid. They still fired 10,000 workers, including 1,700 illegally, as found by the High Court. In the 2022-23 financial year, Qantas recorded a profit of $2.47 billion yet paid no income tax, by bringing forward the losses from the pandemic, so shouldn't they be repaying those subsidies that were paid to them by the federal government?

When it comes to flight noise, we know that the previous Queensland government was subsidising late-night flights—50 a week, or thereabouts—to the tune of $100 million. Those are flights flying inside what should be a curfew period—not only are the federal and state governments refusing to support a curfew; they're actually funding flights to fly during what should be a curfew period. This includes the 1.55 am Emirates flight. Emirates, who just recorded a $4 billion profit, is getting paid by the Queensland taxpayer to fly in the middle of the night, disrupting people's sleep.

It's not just Brisbane. We saw a third runway proposed for Melbourne airport. An independent health study commissioned by council found that impacting sleeping patterns could potentially lead to increased rates of cardiovascular disease and may affect children's cognitive development. In fact, those zones that were most impacted by overnight flights and that could be impacted by the third runway found that children could experience a delay in reading and oral comprehension of between three and five months compared to children in lower noise areas. It makes you wonder what impacts the flight noise is having on Brisbane residents where they are already exposed to it.

All the Greens are proposing is that we have fair and reasonable regulations on airports across Australia, including Brisbane. All we are proposing is a curfew and cap similar to Sydney Airport; all we are proposing is a bit of balance. What we have right now is an airline industry that maximises profits at the expense of everyone else. All we are proposing is that we find some balance between the profitability of the airline industry, the need to service people across Australia and the impact it will have on communities.

Going forward right now, Brisbane Airport hopes to double flight traffic by 2035. That is not just unsustainable when it comes to flight noise; it's unsustainable when it comes to air pollution in the city. It's unsustainable when it comes to meeting our climate and CO2 reduction targets. It's unsustainable on every level, except for Brisbane Airport Corporation's bottom line and Qantas and Virgin's profit margins. Are we really going to allow a political system to sacrifice the needs of ordinary Australians to help pad the profit margins of Qantas, Virgin and Brisbane Airport Corporation?

See this speech in context