Sydney Airport Controversy

BLUE MOUNTAINS GREENS

‘NO AIRPORT IN WESTERN SYDNEY’

JELENA ALAVANJA 11391758

ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE : ADVOCACY 11501

ASSIGNMENT 1 - TACTICAL ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY

TUTOR : IMOGENE TUDOR

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE DAB – UTS

Controversy

There have been decades of debate within Australia, focusing on the need and construction of a second Sydney Airport. Deemed a controversial topic of discussion, it was first advocated for by the State Government back in 1962. The State Planning Authority (SPA) was appointed as the head of planning and development for both the airport and the entire Western Sydney region (ABC News, 2014). Badgery’s Creek was quickly delegated as a possible location for the second airport, where a ‘No Development Zone’ was implemented surrounding the site (ABC News, 2014). However, it was believed that

Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport was still operating well under capacity, terminating both planning and construction procedures of the ‘not urgent’ second airport for another twenty years (Iveson, 2013).

Debate continued with other possible locations suggested, such as Holsworthy and Wilton.

However, despite the government spending more than $8 million conducting research and investigating the varying locations, the potential sites were rejected in 1999 (No BCA, 2014). Subsequently, Badgery’s Creek was confirmed as the preferred site for Sydney’s future second airport. The Labor Government continued to raise arguments disapproving the location, postulating that Wilton was a more suited site. Unfortunately, with conclusion to their term in Government, a report was conducted to examine an overall of 34 potential airport sites (Treasure, 2016). The outcome of the report defined the Badgery’s Creek area as the ‘most logical and cost-effective site for another airport’, with the Federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, calling for ‘planning to begin on a second airport at Badgery’s Creek’ (ABC News, 2014). The decision was publicly concluded upon on the 15th of April 2014, as the Federal Government announced that the second Sydney Airport, ‘Western Sydney Airport’, would be constructed at Badgery’s Creek (ABC News,

2014).

As road works surrounding the proposed location progressed and residents began to vacate government land that was reserved for the airport, in June 2015 the Blue Mountains Greens formed a campaign titled ‘No Airport In Western Sydney’ (Greens, 2015). Based in the heart of one of the world’s finest National Parks, the Blue Mountains Greens are a branch part of the New South Wales Greens (Greens, 2015). Defining the proposal as a ‘win for developers and a loss for the community’, the campaigns’ main aim is to advocate against the proposed Badgery’s Creek Airport, where they believe the funding should have instead been utilised on other more beneficial means of transport for Western Sydney, including High Speed Rail (Greens NSW, 2014).