TRANSCRIPT

Bob Baldwin MP

Federal Member for Paterson

Shadow Minister for Regional Development

Shadow Minister for Tourism

Tuesday, March 22^nd, 2011

Interview with Graeme Gilbert – 2HD Newcastle

Subject: Aircraft Noise, RAAF Base Williamtown

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Graeme Gilbert

Bob Baldwin, good evening sir, how are you?

Bob Baldwin

Good evening Graeme.

Graeme Gilbert

Now it’s a massive issue, possibly not on a state-wide basis, but certainly in and around Port Stephens, it’s an issue that means prosperity for some people and a block of land worth next to nothing for others.

Bob Baldwin

Well this is an issue that affects not only my constituents, but also the Department of Defence and our RAAF Base. It’s an issue that’s been going on for quite some period of time, but it’s also an issue that shows that the Prime Minister and the Labor Party have broken a promise to the people of our electorate.

Graeme Gilbert

Now in layman’s language sir, what was the promise, and where and how have they broken it?

Bob Baldwin

During 2009 there was an ANEF noise footprint put out across the electorate for the new Joint Strike Fighter. This was revised and then through last year there was another ANEF, there was a redrawing of another ANEC and this is where it is confusing people. There are two things: there is an ANEC, a Concept diagram and there is an ANEF, the Forecast, the document which applies restrictions on councils in their planning ability.

Now what happened was, during the election campaign and in the months leading up to it, there was a series of meetings held at the Raymond Terrace Bowling Club, attended by somewhere in the upwards of 700, 800, 900 people each time. Issues were laid out and my opponent and myself put forward a number of options for solutions to reduce the impact of noise upon people and their houses. Because the introduction of the Joint Strike Fighter, it’s going to be a much louder aircraft, it was going to affect people who had not been under noise footprints before. That included people in areas such as Brandy Hill, Seaham, parts of Riverview Ridge which is part of Raymond Terrace and further exacerbated issues around Lakeside, Grahamstown. It also introduced new noise issues on people in West Medowie, then through the work on the Bombing Range, people in East Medowie, Salt Ash and through parts of the Tilligerry Peninsula.

To cut a long story short, they went away and redrew the maps, had a big think about the noise affect around the Salt Ash Bombing Range and made adjustments, therefore areas like Oyster Cove were removed. So they redrew the plan and issued another ANEC which means that it was a Concept, not yet promulgated into an ANEF.

Then during the election campaign, the one thing that was, and I think you and I had a discussion on this Graeme, one thing that had never been thought of, they were using an old, outdated Instrument Landing System, which meant that they could primarily only approach across all those residential areas. I suggested to Department of Defence, because I had been contacted by people who were expert in such things and I said, “Have you ever thought about one of these new DME Instrument Landing Systems which is a GPS-based landing system?” and they said, “You know, we hadn’t really thought of that.” I said, “Well given that most of your flights where you are using instrument landing are training flights, it means that it’s not weather dependent, therefore you could come in over the ocean and do your training.”

So, that went back to the thought police and they went through and as a consequence, there was a new Concept diagram drawn, which took the noise off about 85% of the people that were newly-affected.

Also in addition to that there is to be examination of extension of the runway, which will be required for the re-fuelers that are going to come in, that could also shift the noise footprint.

Now that all that has happened, there is one issue that is still large, and that is that prior to the election, actually he night before the election, the Prime Minister who couldn’t be bothered going to the meeting but actually went to the pub instead in Grahamstown when she flew in, announced that she would lift the ANEF off the people by Christmas. Clear as a bell, printed in all the media and actually in a letter written to the constituents by my opponent with the support of Mike Kelly, who was then Parliamentary Secretary. We the Coalition agreed to do the same thing.

Now here we are, getting towards the end of March, and that still hasn’t been lifted. So they’ve produced a new ANEC which takes the noise away, but has no legal affect. They haven’t promulgated that into the noise Forecast map, so that would actually then lift that noise burden. Now this is what people are up in arms over.

Then there is a second issue, I know we are running out of time here, but the second issue is an estate called Kings Hill. We sit on a committee called the Williamtown Consultative Committee, which has the Members of Parliament, Department of Defence, it has the Air Force, it has Premier and Cabinet, Department of Planning, Department of the Environment from the state government and state Members are invited as well. It also has the Council on there. All the way through Graeme, and even when I sat on Council, I opposed Kings Hill. Department of Defence has opposed Kings Hill because it would mean that they would be building on land directly under the flight path and this is akin to actually building a house in the middle of a freeway.

So the Council ignored that and all of the Councillors there on that Council voted unanimously for Kings Hill development, despite the protestations of Defence.

The state government, despite being warned and advised by Department of Defence, also prior to the election, approved Kings Hill.

So what we have now is, we have a new area for subdivision, many thousands of houses, which have caused the RAAF in this new map to divert aircraft around through the Dam in their landing approach so as they wouldn’t be putting noise over the new homes, and what’s that done is shifted a noise profile over onto people who were never previously noise-affected, and that is what is wrong.

Graeme Gilbert

Now of course, the reality, and you and I have said this on numerous occasions on this program, Williamtown will continue to become a busier and more used airport. The flights from the RAAF personnel will increase by necessity, as you say there needs to be a longer runway because of the jet re-fuelers which will be coming in, which are a new addition, and also the commercial aspect of Williamtown will continue to grow.

Bob Baldwin

Well there will be a range of increases in activities, but not only that, the Joint Strike Fighter is a noisier aircraft than the F-18. It is a RAAF Base and it’s our premier RAAF Base in Australia. It’s got a lot of things there that involve the national security aspect, whether that’s through communications and planning, training and development, it is a very important base.

Now at those public meetings, there were just a couple of people who said they no longer wanted the RAAF to be there. The community wants to keep our RAAF; they understand the economic importance of our RAAF and what it brings to the community as a whole. What people want is they want to be treated with respect, and fairly, in this matter.

The fact that the Government and the new Parliamentary Secretary, who I personally briefed on this matter, have not made the movements to lift that ANEF shows little regard for the people in our region.

Graeme Gilbert

Yes very much so. It’s a subject that obviously we will talk much more about, I’ll let you go now, thankyou for your time Bob and we will catch up soon.

Bob Baldwin

I am sorry it’s a very confusing and detailed subject, but when people deal in half-understandings, no one can actually truly understand the picture. I’ve spent many thousands and thousands of hours on this, because it’s important not only to my constituents, but also my constituency at the RAAF Base.

Graeme Gilbert

Talk soon, thankyou there. Bob Baldwin, the Federal Member for Paterson.

It is a complicated, but it’s an important issue. The Prime Minister promised an ANEF and then that was going to come in by Christmas, that hasn’t happened yet. It’s an issue we will continue to talk about and for the people it is a very important topic.