Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's good to follow the member for Brisbane, because I know he has, in his electorate, some real concerns being raised with him about aircraft noise as is the case in my electorate. I just want to put on the record that I have met with the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance. Representatives of that alliance have been to see me about their campaign in respect of aircraft noise. I want to say that I expect the Brisbane Airport Corporation, Airservices and, of course, the government to listen to the advocacy from this group. I also expect them to take the steps they can to reduce aircraft noise immediately. For example, a lot of our mutual constituents would be saying that aircraft movements should be occurring across the bay, where that's possible, as opposed to over residential areas. I know that weather can affect the possibility of that happening, and, of course, we can't fix the weather, but, where the difficulty in flying over the bay is caused by too many movements per hour, that's something that can be addressed by scheduling. The Brisbane Airport Corporation, Airservices and the government should address that by seeking to ensure that scheduling isn't preventing aircraft from traveling in across the bay.

I want to mention the Kangaroo Point APOD, the so-called alternative place of detention. It's really just a makeshift detention centre in my electorate of Griffith. It was put at Kangaroo Point without any consultation with me or the community. I was very pleased when 49 people were released from that APOD recently, and I want to congratulate all of the advocates, including Romero Centre, as well as many, many more who have been both calling for the release of people and supporting those who have been released. I myself have repeatedly called on the government to release people from detention where it's safe for that to occur, and I want them to really take a close look at this, because there are still 43 people in that APOD. It's important that those 43 people know there are people who are worried about them, who are thinking of them and who are very concerned for their welfare.

I want to mention that the state government has released the South East Queensland Regional Transport Plans. I welcome the fact the state government has indicated in those plans that reviewing level crossings is important. Of course, we have a level crossing in my electorate at Cavendish Road, which I've been campaigning about for many years. I really want all levels of government to work together to address this issue. Labor took a commitment of $107 million to the last election and put that on the table for fixing this issue. We need all levels of government to make sure that they are working together, and we need the Morrison government to come to the table. They have put up money for the Linden level crossing, and we don't begrudge that, but we want money put up for the Cavendish Road level crossing, which will have an impact for my constituents and also for people who live further east of that crossing as well.