The federal government was treating residents in the Blue Mountains and western Sydney like second-class citizens by not releasing flight paths for the second Sydney airport, a rally on Sunday heard.
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill was one of the speakers at the Residents Against Western Sydney Airport rally at Luddenham, accusing the government of pulling a “confidence trick” on western Sydney residents.
“You can’t build a second storey on your house in any local government area in New South Wales without telling your neighbours what you propose to do, and yet they can build an airport in western Sydney and not tell us where the bloody planes are going to be,” he said to loud applause.
Cr Greenhill called on the government to release the proposed flight paths for the airport.
“The last time the government talked about flight paths, it was a disaster for places like Lapstone, Glenbrook, Blaxland and Warrimoo. There is no evidence it is any different now,” he said. “What have they got to hide?”
Ward 3 Blue Mountains councillor Shae Foenander also attended the rally, calling “the whole [airport] concept just wrong”.
“Let’s face it, the politicians are wanting to keep us in the dark so little fuss is made. Why? Because the eastern suburbs want to sleep at night and keep a curfew while the rest of western Sydney suffer the consequences with a 24/7 airport at our doorstep.”
Blacktown mayor Stephen Bali and Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi also addressed the rally.
Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, did not attend but said the “likely flight paths pose a massive risk to the Mountains”.
“We might not know the exact routes, but we do know that 100 percent of incoming flights are intended to cross over the Mountains, night and day.
“The sooner western Sydney understands that there are none of the protections other parts of Sydney get, the more likely we are to have our concerns addressed,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population said the flight paths for the airport are currently being developed.
“There are four phases to the flight path design – planning, preliminary design and environmental assessment, detailed design and implementation.
“The design is currently in the planning phase.
“Community consultation will be ongoing in finalising the flight paths, including through opportunities to comment.”
