Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just last week I attended the Forum on Western Sydney Airport meeting and received an update regarding submissions into the draft EIS—the impact statement for flight path design. There have been immense contributions from many communities across Western Sydney, with over 8,000 submissions sent to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. I know there are a huge number of submissions from my electorate of Lindsay.

I put in a submission myself, and I want to highlight some of my recommendations, which were very much based on my community's feedback. With regard to the flight paths, they need to be more evenly distributed across communities. All homes of equal noise impact should receive the same amount of noise mitigation if they meet the required decibel levels. More investigation is required into the impacts on property values and communication of these impacts needs to occur with the community. I've always been concerned about the consultation process. I think further consultation should be provided to my community of Lindsay, particularly, especially those who are significantly impacted, to ensure that residents understand the complex flight path information. We have had only three or four community feedback sessions out of the 50-odd sessions that have occurred, so my community is only just coming on board with understanding the impacts of the flight paths of this major international airport. We certainly need more time to absorb the very complex information.

There have been a number of key issues in the submissions, across the board. These include: a lack of consultation; noise, which for many communities will impact on property values; the social impacts on health and residents' quality of sleep; as well as mental health and environmental concerns. There's still a lot of work to be done when it comes to flight path design. I hope that the government is taking on board all of the 8,000-odd submissions; there are some key themes underlying those submissions. Everyone deserves to have their say. I really hope that the process, from here on in, is a lot more consultative and that the people's voices of Western Sydney are very much heard and we are not forgotten about.