Mr LEO McLEAY (12:00 PM) —Today I would like to say a few words on a second airport for Sydney. We have been waiting for years for a decision to be made about a second airport for Sydney. Last week it was reported to be actually on the agenda for a cabinet meeting. But, once again, the making of a decision has proved to be too difficult for the government. The Deputy Prime Minister, who is also responsible for transport, has been reported as saying that a preliminary—whatever that is supposed to mean—decision will be made within weeks, but how many weeks? He has emphasised that the number of options within options are endless—an exaggeration, surely. What he really means is that there are so many politicians with a vested interest in the matter of the proposed location of the second airport that it seems impossible to have a proper objective discussion about the matter and therefore it is impossible to reach a decision.

Last year when I spoke about this issue in the Main Committee, the excuse for not reaching a decision was said to be the forthcoming New South Wales election. The gutless government was loath to make a decision in case the decision adversely affected the chances of its candi-dates in the New South Wales election. It may as well have made a decision and got it over with because, who knows, their candidates may have even done better in the election if the government had bitten the bullet. Let us face it, many people are generally sick and tired of the indecision and procrastination about the question of Sydney's second airport. It is obvious to most people where the best location for the airport is, but the longer the decision is put off the more difficult it is to make, and more and more obstacles are put in the way of the decision making process.

Since the proposal for the location of the second airport at Badgerys Creek was given a favourable environmental impact statement last June, there has been no excuse for the Howard government not to make a decision. Pressure on Kingsford Smith airport will only increase in the next few years. It seems that a crisis point will have to be reached before the government will act, because those currently in government are hoping, perhaps, that they will be out of the government by then and thus be able to avoid making a decision. That is an interesting thought.

Recently we have seen the issue raised of using Bankstown airport for regional traffic, an option promoted by the Sydney Airports Corporation, a government instrumentality. Obviously, this is an industry out of control, for we have also seen the Deputy Prime Minister, who is the minister for transport, criticising the corporation for its promotion of this option. It is a sorry state of affairs when the minister responsible for transport and regional services has to attack a body responsible for a transport service. It does not say much for the transport industry when you have key players at cross-purposes with each other. No wonder there is confusion and obfuscation.

I want to re-emphasise that the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. It is not going to become easier to make the decision. Experience over the years has shown that delaying the decision over the site of a second airport has only made that decision harder to take, rather than easier. It is almost as if the government were hoping a magic solution would appear—a floating runway, perhaps, a few miles off the coast near La Perouse? I seem to have heard a certain person, now a minister, floating this proposition. She hoped, I guess, that the airport would float out of her electorate and off the coast of New South Wales, and that is about as bizarre as the government's proposals are. There is no magic solution. Sooner or later the cabinet and the government are going to have to bite the bullet. They are going to have to make a decision on where Sydney will have its second airport. We have already had an EIS; it is time a decision was made.