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

It's been more than four years since the opening of Brisbane Airport's second runway, and Labor and the Liberals have done nothing to fix aircraft noise that is smashing thousands of Brisbane residents every single day. Interrupted sleep is a nightly occurrence for many people in Brisbane, and despite having heard from thousands of people on the issue, Labor and the LNP don't seem to care. People in Griffith are sick of token consultation and window-dressing. The solutions are right there in front of us. They are a cap, a curfew and more flights over the water. They are exactly the same solutions that Sydney airport has had since the 1990s. They haven't stopped Sydney from becoming a global destination, having cheap airfares or hosting the Olympics, but they have helped tens of thousands of people get a reprieve from severe, daily aircraft noise.

That's exactly why the Greens introduced a private member's bill into parliament to introduce those same measures for Brisbane. It's been four years, and I still haven't heard a single good explanation as to why Sydney deserves better than Brisbane. Why does the Prime Minister's electorate deserve better than Brisbane? These solutions have precedents in Sydney, and they have the backing of the community that are being affected by aircraft noise, but the Labor Party and the LNP won't give them the time of day.

Last November, the Greens brought on a vote for the government just to consider a curfew and cap for Brisbane Airport, and neither Labor nor the Liberals could even approve or support that. It was not to pass the bill but just to consider curfews for Brisbane. For three years, the minister for transport has refused to meet with the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance. Why? We know from the Greens' Senate inquiry into aircraft noise that she meets regularly with aviation industry representatives. She has plenty of time to meet with them, but when it comes to community organisations like the BFPCA—nada. When this government released its aviation white paper, which sets out the government's plan for the aviation sector out to 2050, why was there almost was no mention of how the government intends to manage flight noise and no plan to actually deliver on high-speed rail by 2050? Instead, there was just huge aviation industry growth and private profits. In fact, the government plans to double Australian domestic air traffic as well as allow a five- to six-fold increase of Australian international air traffic by 2050.

The truth is that Labor and the LNP have decided they won't do anything which hurts the profitability of Qantas, Virgin or Brisbane Airport Corporation. Perhaps Brisbane Airport Corporation should have never been privatised in the first place. People affected by flight noise deserve so much better than Labor and the LNP. Both are so beholden to the aviation industry. The Greens got up a Senate inquiry that made 21 recommendations into tackling aircraft noise. We have a private member's bill. We've secured more flights over the water and brought this issue to the national stage. We just need Labor and the LNP to come to the table. To the people of Griffith affected by flight noise: I know this has been a long fight, and I know many of you are as frustrated as I am by inaction on this issue. I've been committed to this fight for a long time and will continue to take up the fight in this term of parliament.

Every week in four public schools across Griffith, a bunch of amazing volunteers head out to those schools, organised out of my office, to run free school breakfasts. In fact, we have now served over 40,000 free school breakfasts across our electorate. I want to give a special shout-out to a few select volunteers and, in particular, to a grade 6 student who's just graduated last year, Abbie. Abbie at Mayfield State School was rocking up, I think, every single week for almost an entire year. We worked out that she was individually involved in serving thousands and thousands of free school breakfasts herself. She is an absolute stand-out member of the Brisbane community and our electorate.

If people want to know, the entire program is funded out of a contribution from of my salary—all up, it's about $80,000 now over this term. Crucially, the only reason this can run is because of the hard work of a bunch of volunteers in our electorate. We have spoken to so many families who are doing it tough at the moment. We know that, of the three million Australians living in poverty right now, 775,000 of them are children. In a wealthy country like Australia, no child should have to go to school hungry, but the reality is far too many do in a country where, at the same time, billionaires have made off with over half a trillion dollars worth of wealth. We'll continue to run and expand these programs in Griffith for two reasons: (1) to help people in the here and now; and (2) most crucially, to make the argument that, if we can do it, so can the federal government.

See this speech in context