Page 6017 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 2010
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Sorry, Chief Minister, it is time for much stronger action, and it is time the Assembly supports the amendment of the Leader of the Opposition to call for legislation to guarantee these protections so that, if any construction happens south of Queanbeyan or north of Queanbeyan, even to the east of Queanbeyan in Googong, nothing that happens across the border affects the people of the ACT. That is what should happen. That is what is right, and that is what the amendment of the Leader of the Opposition seeks to do.
When you look at the flight patterns and the noise exclusion zone, as Mr Seselja said, it does not extend to the people of Gungahlin, in particular the new suburbs—places like Throsby. It is important that they are protected, and it is important that people know that, when they build there, they will always be protected. The time for writing letters is probably gone. It is quite clear what the intent of the Queanbeyan City Council is. As Mr Rattenbury points out, it is quite an impressive list of people who are against this happening. Through 15, 16, 17 years of attendance at the Tuggeranong community council, it is quite clear from all involved that the people of Tuggeranong will have no truck with sharing noise over Tuggeranong, particularly when we do not have to and particularly when we should not need to.
These are important issues. The time for letter writing is over. You have to question the effectiveness of what the Chief Minister does and how much relevance he has with his federal colleagues. For the last three years, we have not been able to get much out of federal Labor. I think the time has long gone for letter writing and talking.
It is very, very important that a curfew not be put in place. Canberra’s economic future is dependent on some of the developments that are going ahead at the airport. With the first half of the terminal project being completed, we can see that, as a gateway not just to Canberra but as an alternative gateway to Australia, there is enormous potential there.
There was an article last Thursday in the Australian Financial Review which talked about China Southern Airlines. The minister will know how dear to my heart Chinese tourism is, and there is a report out today saying that tourists from China are just flooding into Australia. Unfortunately, we abandoned that market some time ago. As a consequence of that, I rang the China Southern Airlines representative in Sydney, who said, “Look, if you had an international standard airport, then direct flights are something we would be interested in.”
Mr Stanhope: When are they starting?
MR SMYTH: They are getting extra flights into Sydney and Melbourne. I am surprised you missed that article, Chief Minister. They are talking about going to Cairns. They are going to Brisbane. They are going to Adelaide.
Mr Stanhope: All down to your phone call, mate? One phone call, and Air China are on the way!
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, order!
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