Help Fix Bankstown Airport

People to Write and Speak to...

 

Contact Details   | Parliament House   | NSW State Parliament   | Tips for Writing to Politicians   | ALP Airports Policy   | Australian Democrats Policy   |BEAR Home

Contact Details

The Parliament House site provides details of members addresses (see http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/index.htm)

Parliament House

Airports are a responsibility of the Australian federal government. So members of that parliament should be a primary target for expressing your concerns to. Correspondence to Members of the Australian (Commonwealth) Parliament can be addressed to:

(members name)
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

To find more information on Members of Parliament, visit the parliament house site:

http://www.aph.gov.au/

NSW State Parliament

Contact details for members of the NSW State Parliament can be found at the NSW parliament site's http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/

Tips for Writing to Politicians

When writing to politicians, the most important thing is to write (or speak) from your heart. The more personal you make it, the more it counts. It doesn't have to be wonderful prose, and it can be quite short.

Remember, politicians have to count at election time, and most are therefore expert at counting. While some politicians will do more than count that you've written (or spoken to them), the most important thing is to get their counter ticking over. Everything else is a bonus.

While form letters count, something you write yourself counts much more (click here for a form letter Bankstown  Form Letter). If you're looking for ideas on what to say, maybe you could ask a question. If you look around the pages of this site, you should find plenty of questions you could use - feel free to use them directly, or adapt them if you wish. Questions are good, particularly if they seek information. Questions invite investigation by the reader, and a reply to you - and the truth if often revealed this way.

Many politicians say that mail and faxed letters count more than emails - which are often just cc'd to many people. It's as if the cost of what you've done (time to do it, postage stamp or phone call) is a measure of how much you are concerned.

Similarly, some count hand-written letters more than typed or printed letters (they're not all techno-philes).

For more in-depth good advice on lobbying politicians, see Aldis Ozol's http://www.catskill.net/abcav/aldis.html How To Lobby Politicians

Lastly, most people concerned by an issue don't write or speak to their politicians. So when you do write, it has more weight than you might think - you are like the tip of an iceberg.

ALP Airports Policy

4. Building Australia's Capital Base: Investment and Infrastructure

source: ALP Platform 1998, and 2000 Ch 4 (both in 1998 and 2000, the policyhttp://www.alp.org.au/policy/platform2000/chapter_04.html contains in point 16 the same text)

For aviation, Labor will:

• maintain Qantas and Ansett as Australia's international carriers, delivering high levels of service and providing a substantial proportion of Australia's international aviation needs;
• foster the development of the general aviation sector and assist the growth of aviation training as an important export industry;
• encourage the growth of air freight through upgraded airport facilities, increased competition in cargo terminal operations and improvements in the logistics chain;
• ensure that privatised airports maintain competitive pricing regimes, high quality services and strict environmental and safety requirements, and facilitate local ownership of regional airports; and
• build a second airport in the Sydney basin, introduce fairer flight paths and maintain the cap and curfew at Sydney Airport.

Does it exclude the possibility that Badgery's Creek or Bankstown will be it ? Will the growth of air freight be achieved by turning Ray's Golf Range into a freight terminal, and dumping 24 hour cargo flights and ever-growing aviation training into Bankstown ? Has it already meant turning a blind eye while Bankstown was expanded in 1996, conveniently forgetting about an EIS or any strict environmental requirements ?

Australian Democrats Policy

The Australian Democrats do not support the development of a new airport within the Sydney basin, and believe that the development of any new airport must be fundamentally based on integration with fast rail and rail freight transport development and other planned infrastructure development.

TRANSPORT - Major Airports in NSW

NSW needs a new or second international airport if Kingsford-Smith is not to be further expanded. The Australian Democrats agree that Kingsford-Smith Airport must not be further expanded, and on environmental grounds ideally needs to be phased-down as a major airport. This will not be possible prior to the 2000 Olympics, and until a decision on the site for a second airport is made.

The Sydney basin as a whole is unsuitable for a major new airport. Siting a new airport outside of the Sydney basin would only be feasible with the associated development of a fast train link into the centre of Sydney.

An environmental impact statement is underway examining the relative merits of Badgery's Creek as a suitable site for a new airport. We believe that this site is unsuitable for a new airport, for topographical, environmental, economic and social reasons.

There is ongoing and deep-seated resentment and anger in the local communities and the wider community throughout the greater Sydney area over the way the airport issue has been handled over the last several years. Secrecy, lack of accountability and poor public consulta-tion processes have left a legacy of fear and mistrust. Every effort must be made to ensure that this does not persist.

With careful planning, the development of one or more airports outside of the Sydney basin could have many inter-related benefits in terms of regional development, decentralisation, reduced road transport and pollution, enhanced rail services, and increased city housing in areas of Sydney currently designated for airport use.

The Original Ten

The major 1985 'Second Sydney Airport draft EIS' study ranked 10 identified options as follows (from most to least preferable :- Badgery's Creek*; Wilton (near Wollongong)+; Bringelly (near Badgery's Creek)*; Londonderry (near Richmond)*; Scheyville (near Rich-mond)*; Warnervale (near Newcastle)#; Somersby (near Newcastle)#; Darkes Forest (near Wollongong)+;Holsworthy*; Goulburn#. (*in,#out,+on the edge of - the Sydney basin).

The Australian Democrats position

1. The Democrats are opposed to any new airport being built within the Sydney basin and this includes at Badgery's Creek.
2. The Democrats believe that there should be a genuine, thorough and transparent consideration of all options for new airport developments outside the Sydney basin.
3. In investigating other options, the Democrats support parallel consideration of the phasing-down of Kingsford-Smith, over the medium to long term. Depending on what other options are available, Kingsford-Smith airport could become either a small international airport or regional airport limited to domestic flights.
4. As part of the examination of a mix of options outside the Sydney basin, the Democrats support a feasibility and desirability study for the development of a separate specialised freight airport.
5. Each of these alternatives must be assessed in conjunction with assessments of the potential for, and benefits of, improved rail freight and rapid transit passenger rail services.

As Bankstown is not a "new airport", could the Democrats also turn a blind eye to Bankstown expansion ?

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