Excessive flight noise from air traffic has been an issue for some residents of Brisbane for many years. The opening of an additional runway at the privately-owned Brisbane Airport in July 2020 has had a terrible impact on the lives of many Brisbane residents, including many people in Ryan. Residents affected by noise from Brisbane Airport want to reduce the impact on their health with caps on the number of flights per hour and an overnight curfew, measures that are in place for Sydney and Melbourne Airport. To date, both Airservices Australia and the Brisbane Airport Corporation have refused these reasonable measures on the grounds it will impact profitability of the airport.
A survey of 2000 Brisbane residents in 2021 found that 81% of respondents had their sleep disrupted as a result of flight noise, 68% of respondents suffered from mental distress, and 11% of respondents had been forced to seek medical help. This is not acceptable, and I will continue to fight to have the needs of people put before corporate profit.
Actions
Submission to the Post-Implementation Review
Airservices Australia were required to commission an independent, post-implementation review (PIR) into the impact of the new runway 12 months after it opened. The Trax Report was finally released in late August 2022 after delays, and contained little to celebrate. The scope was too narrow, the timelines were too long, and it was silent on the issues of a long-term operating plan, a curfew, and a cap on flights. Nonetheless, I would like to see immediate action on the positive elements of the Trax Report and a firm commitment from the Minister to those deeper structural changes.
The members for Griffith and Brisbane and I collaborated on a submission in response to the draft report, which supported community calls for a caps and curfews, and noted that Airservices Australia’s obligations to advance the civil aviation industry is in conflict with its ability to be an impartial regulator.
Final PIR report released for Christmas
After more delays, Airservices Australia released the final report of the post-implementation review just as everyone was winding down for Christmas. While I haven’t yet had a chance to look at it in detail, on an initial scan there are a handful of positive changes from the draft PIR report. In particular, Airservices have included suggestions from the BFPCA and Greens MPs around measurability and accountability regarding five-year forecasts and online mapping, as well as considering examining “opportunities to shift night-time operations over the bay or away from inland communities".
Nonetheless, it appears (as we sadly expected) that while Airservices acknowledges the community’s demand for a curfew – it has been deemed ‘out of the scope of the PIR’. At the same time, a cap on total flights and the kind of comprehensive flight path redesign with more over the bay that the community have been calling for have been left out. My team and I will look over the report in detail early in the new year and give a full update then.
Speech in Parliament
While I concede that speeches in Parliament in and of themselves rarely make the change we need, I thought it important to raise many of the issues around flight paths and noise that I’ve been hearing from the community.
One thing that is often overlooked in this discussion is the negative impact of high levels of noise, particularly affecting sleep at night, on people’s mental health. Further, I spoke about the regulatory capture of Airservices Australia, where they rely on the fees paid by private airline corporations like QANTAS and Virgin. Not to mention the donations the major parties receive from BAC. It’s no wonder we see such a dysfunctional regulatory framework. I also raised the concerns from residents of Upper Brookfield about the pollution of rainwater tanks by low-flying aircraft from Archerfield airport.
Make no mistake, Labor could legislate this right now. As a community must amplify our efforts, and the Greens will be here to support us. We should bring Brisbane Airport back into public hands, and wind back the corporatisation of Airservices Australia, so we can have genuine democratic oversight of this important industry. People must come before the profits of airport and airline corporations!
Meetings with stakeholders
Trax, Brisbane Airport Corporation and Airservices Australia have held a number of community meetings as part of the PIR. While I was in Canberra, my team member Sean attended the Upper Brookfield PIR on the 11th of September. On my return I attended the St Lucia PIR on the evening of 15th September, having had a Zoom meeting with Catherine King that morning, in which I continued to press her for real action on this important issue. On the 25th of September, I attended a forum with community members to strategise the next steps and I held a smaller group of constituents in my Ryan office the week after.
My Greens colleagues have met with Brisbane Airport Corporation to voice community concerns. All reports indicate they are feeling the pressure. At the latest meeting, BAC said they are considering putting in place a discount or levy to incentivize airlines to move to quieter aircraft. Additionally, they seem to be hearing the calls for more flights over the bay. These are modest victories, but they demonstrate the power of community pressure on the government and the airport.
I have now had two meetings with Transport Minister Catherine King and it’s increasingly clear to me that the only way we’re going to get real change is if we strategise and organise as a Brisbane community to form a protest movement that can’t be ignored. The more we can demonstrate community support, the stronger my voice can be in my meetings with the minister.
Brisbane Airport Curfew Bill 2022
In Ferbuary 2022, Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt submitted a Private Members Bill calling for caps, curfews and a long-term operating plan for Brisbane Airport. Had the Bill been supported by Labor and LNP MPs, most of the concerns of the affected community would have been addressed.
Get involved
The community affected by flight noise have been brilliant at organising so they are heard on this issue. I highly recommend the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance, which formed in late 2020 after the new runway opened in July that year. At a community forum in September 2022, people felt that to get genuine solutions to this problem, we need to have a powerful collective voice and BFCPA are already doing amazing work on this issue. Take an online action, or sign up for communications, including rapid text alerts about planned actions and events.
My Greens colleagues in Brisbane and Griffith will continue to support the community in their fight against profiteers with no regard for the community.