Mr Murphy asked the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, upon notice, on 13 February 2002:

(1) Further to the answer to part (1) of question No. 2414 (Hansard,17 September 2001, page 30802), will the re-opening of the East-West Runway and the commissioning of the Sydney West Airport Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) alone fulfil the Coalition's promise that Sydney Airport would not be sold until that airport's aircraft noise problems had been solved.

(2) Have these two actions alone solved Sydney Airport's aircraft noise problems.

(3) Has the commissioning of the Second Sydney Airport EIS, together with the Coalition's 1996 Aviation Policy, created a legitimate expectation in the minds of the community that Sydney West Airport would be built as part of the solution to Sydney Airport's Aircraft Noise problems; if not, what purpose does the Second Sydney Airport EIS serve in its relation to the Coalition Policy to solve Sydney Airport's aircraft noise problems.

Mr Anderson (Minister for Transport and Regional Services) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1)-(3) The Government has introduced several measures to mitigate aircraft noise. The Long Term Operating Plan (LTOP) introduced a regime of noise sharing. The Plan introduced significant reductions in noise exposure for those areas most heavily impacted under Labor's noise concentration regime.

The Sydney Airport Curfew Act 1995 provides for the restriction of landings and take-offs only to specific types of aircraft over Botany Bay between 11pm and 6am.

The Sydney Airport Demand Management Act 1997 which came into effect in November 1997 limits the number of planned runway movements to 80 per hour.

After lengthy and careful consideration to finding the best way to cater for Sydney's future aviation needs, the Government concluded that Sydney Airport will be able to handle the air traffic demand over the next ten years and that Bankstown Airport will be made available as an overflow airport for Sydney that will, over time, become an attractive alternative for some airline services.

The Government will further review Sydney's airport needs in 2005.