North Sydney Liberal MP Joe Hockey enjoys his corporate lunches and his domestic flights out of convenient Mascot to Canberra, but gets frustrated by the road congestion and flight delays. He thinks that moving all the international and noisy freight flights out west, will free up his convenient access to Qantas Club and for more timely flights in and out of Mascot.
Chuck internationals out here!
Jan 01, 2013, then Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey steps into Abbott’s no-policy hole to announce coalition will build a 2nd Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek.
“..The Coalition Government has inherited a complex set of fiscal and economic policy challenges. The task of getting the Budget back on track is a national priority and will require every sector of the community to make a contribution. There will be difficult decisions, but all Australians must help to do the heavy lifting. It will not be acceptable for a few to make the major sacrifices on behalf of the rest of us…”
~ The Hon. Joe Hockey MP, Treasurer, “The Case for Change” Spectator Magazine Function, Doltone House, Sydney, April 23, 2014.
Hockey 3 weeks later delivering his first Budget Speech in Australian Parliament on May 13, 2014
Lebanese Hockey has crony mates, just like Lebanese Obeid. Back in the Lebanon things got done in government not by what you know, but who you know. Crony Labor gets things done on the sly, whereas big end of town Liberals shift entire estates using corporate moguls, banks and QCs.
Hockey claims to be all about Labor Budget Repair, yet he happily spends like Labor. Post the 2013 Federal Election, Hockey has supported massive unaffordable pet project excesses that Australian voters didn’t ask for: Abbott’s $12 billion on 58 unnecessary F-35s and Abbott’s $6 billion on Badgery’s Creek Airport.
$12 billion for 58 American F-35s even if enemy aircraft can out do ’em in every way
Labor and the Cross-benchers didn’t block such budget exuberance in the Senate; the combined $18 billion of Abbott Liberal indulgences are of Abbott’s own making, and Hockey is embarrassed by complicit by his silence.
On these two expenditure bases, Abbott is an electoral fraudster, and Hockey is Abbott’s sorrowful show pony.
But the Lebanese know how to influence business deals. Watch how Hockey bullied O’Farrell in the following Sydney newspaper articles:
‘Development of land based on an airport at Badgerys‘ (SMH, April 4, 2013, by Jacob Saulwick, Leesha McKenny)
“The development of 10,000 hectares of land in western Sydney is being planned on the basis there will be an airport in nearby Badgerys Creek, despite the O’Farrell government’s stated opposition to one.
A draft plan for the Western Sydney Employment Area, a vast tract of undeveloped land north-east of the Badgerys Creek site, is due to be released soon.
The employment area needs to be complemented with roads and other infrastructure, the shape of which would be determined in part by whether an airport is built at Badgerys.
People close to a taskforce set up to decide the future of the Western Sydney Employment Area say consultants on the project have assumed an airport will be built eventually, rather than recommend options that preclude the development of an airport.
A spokesman said the Department of Planning and Infrastructure was not assuming there would be an airport at Badgerys.
But ”we are ensuring that Commonwealth land and its potential future uses are closely considered in the planning process – but this doesn’t mean the employment area requires the airport to proceed,” he said.
Many urban planners and development industry figures say the government will be hard pressed to meet its ambitious jobs targets for western Sydney without backing an airport.
The draft metropolitan strategy, the government’s plan to manage growth in the next two decades, shows the city’s west will absorb more than 70 per cent of Sydney’s additional 1.3 million residents expected by 2031.
The government wants half of the strategy’s 625,000 jobs located in the west, a target many see as unlikely without an airport.
The University of NSW’s City Futures Research Centre head Bill Randolph said the government’s employment targets for the north west and south west would ”make more sense” if there was an airport between them.
”It’s very difficult to see where employment might come from unless Badgerys Creek gets off the ground,” he said.
”An airport is a huge game changer,” Professor Randolph said. ”If you put an airport in that area, then a lot of the problems of western Sydney could well be solved.”
The Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Stephen Albin said the Western Sydney Employment Area would take 20 years to develop without an airport at Badgerys Creek. With an airport, the jobs would emerge in half the time, he said.
The University of Western Sydney’s Australian Urban Research Centre director Michael Darcy said that, without strategic decisions about big infrastructure projects such as another airport, ”the job targets in western and south-western Sydney don’t really instil much confidence”.
”My biggest concern in this plan is the neglect of south-western Sydney, which is an area that’s got the largest population growth flagged, the largest housing growth, the largest jobs growth but the least said in terms of infrastructure,” Professor Darcy said.
Lapdog Nationals Warren Truss: happy to divert $6 billion from New South Wales to urban Sydney’s third airport.
‘Premier Barry O’Farrell shifts on second airport at Badgerys Creek’ (The Daily Telegraph, October 31, 2013, by Simon Benson, National Political Editor)
“Barry O’Farrell has said he will not stand in the way of a second airport at Badgerys Creek, claiming that if the federal government wanted to build it – then it should.
The Premier, who has been a staunch opponent of the proposed project in the past, yesterday appeared to have softened his stance, claiming federal Treasurer Joe Hockey could use his increased debt limit to pay for it.
“Aviation is a federal responsibility, a second airport for Sydney is a federal responsibility,” Mr O’Farrell said.
“The federal government has the land, Mr Hockey has now given himself a $500 billion credit card, if he wants to build the second Sydney airport he can. But state funds will continue to go into state infrastructure.”
The Daily Telegraph first revealed that Mr Hockey wanted a final decision on the go-ahead for Badgerys Creek before Christmas and wanted to include some initial funding for the $6 billion facility in his first budget.
Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has since confirmed that a decision was likely before the end of the year.
State government sources have claimed that Mr O’Farrell has softened his stance on the second Sydney airport since railing against it in favour of an expanded airport at Canberra and a high-speed rail line to get travellers there.
“He has basically said, if they want to build it then he will fall into line. But he is still against it in principle,” a senior state government source said.
It was noted that since his first suggestion of a Canberra airport option, Mr O’Farrell had not mentioned the proposal again.
Mr O’Farrell has suggested the state government had no jurisdiction over such a project and it was a decision entirely for the federal body.
The Daily Telegraph also revealed this week that Qantas and Jetstar and Qatar Airways have told the federal government they would fly services out of a western Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek in a blow to critics who claim the facility was destined to become a ghost airport.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told The Daily Telegraph at the weekend that both the company’s flagship carrier Qantas and low-cost airline Jetstar would run services from a second airport at Badgerys Creek.
And he argued that the competition between airports could ultimately lead to lower fares for customers.
“There are many cities around the world that have more than one successful airports operating with flag carriers and low-cost airlines too,” Mr Joyce said.
“There is no reason why this couldn’t be the case for a new airport at Badgerys Creek and see both Qantas and Jetstar operating.
“We are always looking for new ways to provide more options for customers, as well as reduce costs – so a new airport at Badgerys could definitely provide us with this.”
‘Key Barry O’Farrell planner Graham Bradley coy on Badgerys Creek airport plans‘ (by John Lehmann, The Daily Telegraph, October 29, 2013)
“Premier Barry O’Farrell’s infrastructure chief Graham Bradley is shying away from taking a public stand on building western Sydney’s airport at Badgerys Creek – despite his organisation’s latest strategy plan backing the need for a second airport.
Mr Bradley, who chairs Infrastructure NSW, counts among his board directors one of the staunchest opponents to a second Sydney airport, Max Moore-Wilton, who is responsible for running Sydney Airport at Mascot.
Mr Bradley told The Daily Telegraph yesterday the issue of a second airport was “really a federal matter”.
“The state (government) has a stated position and it is not an Infrastructure NSW project,” he said.
Mr O’Farrell remains one of the last power players to remain opposed, preferring that a fast train network be built between Sydney and Canberra.
Mr Bradley’s predecessor at Infrastructure NSW, Nick Greiner, is a strong supporter of Badgerys Creek, saying yesterday it was time to “start a sensible process to plan for the airport being built”.
Mr Bradley has adopted a low-key approach to his role following Mr Greiner’s resignation in May. Mr Greiner believed it was part of his job to shake up the slow-moving NSW bureaucracy, bringing him into conflict on occasion with Mr O’Farrell.
The vice-chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, Peter Shergold, has also come out in support of Badgerys Creek.
“We should be focusing on an airport in western Sydney – it would make a significant economic difference,” he said.
His comments followed Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce confirming that Qantas and Jetsar could run services from Badgerys Creek.
The confirmation erodes Mr Moore-Wilton’s arguments that major airlines would not be interested in operating services from a western Sydney airport.
Infrastructure NSW released a 20-year strategic plan last year, which recommended the land required to site an airport at Badgerys Creek continue to be preserved.
It said the detailed planning for a western Sydney airport would not need to be undertaken until the 2020s, although it also found that additional airport capacity would be required by the late 2020s.
Business Council of Australia chairman Tony Shepard said yesterday it would be “very aggravating” if key planning decisions were left to the last minute.
“We should be making a decision and locking in the planning and transport corridors and the land around the airport so there isn’t further residential development,” he said.
Nationals Warren Truss happy to divert $6 billion from desperate Rural Australia to Abbott’s Sydney
‘Badgerys Creek finally set to take off – Treasurer Joe Hockey set to fund second Sydney airport in his first federal budget’ (by Simon Benson National Political Editor, The Daily Telegraph, October 23, 2013)
“Approval for a second Sydney airport at Badgery’s Creek could be given within months, with federal Treasurer Joe Hockey pushing to fast-track a decision to include the project in the government’s first budget.
The Daily Telegraph understands Mr Hockey has nominated the $6 billion airport as one of the key infrastructure projects needed to help reignite the slowing economy and will take it to the government’s expenditure review committee possibly before Christmas.
Senior government sources confirmed the Treasurer was adamant the project be included in his first budget in May next year – meaning a final decision would have to be made before March.
The sense of urgency around the need to re-tool the economy through infrastructure spending but at the same time arrest a worsening budget position became apparent yesterday when the Treasurer announced he would seek parliamentary approval to raise Australia’s debt ceiling to half a trillion dollars following advice the previous government’s $300 billion ceiling would be exceeded by December.
Blaming Labor for the budget mess and growing debt that the government was now faced with, Mr Hockey revealed his new razor gang, the Commission of Audit, would leave no area untouched in its bid to find budget savings.
He would not rule out further government asset sales beyond Medibank Private, claiming everything was now on the table: “Every area of government will be examined. There are no restrictions. We need to move quickly to deal with this particularly in the wake of what has been revealed in the US in recent week. This is the legacy of a bad Labor government.”
Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann later issued a reassurance that health and education funding would be quarantined from cuts.
The audit commission will be headed by Business Council of Australia chair Tony Shepherd and will report in two stages before March 2014.
The panel will include the chairman of the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Peter Boxall, former treasury secretary Tony Cole, former West Australian bureaucrat Robert Fisher and Howard government cabinet minister Amanda Vanstone.
The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday that Treasury and Reserve Bank officials warned Mr Hockey the economy was at risk of slowing to 2 per cent growth or below within 18 months.
Mr Hockey has nominated road, rail and airport infrastructure as a key priority of the government’s to boost economic growth.
Opposition finance spokesman Tony Burke accused Mr Hockey of deceiving Australians prior to the election about the extent of cuts it would introduce.
“We predicted before the election that this is exactly what they would do and they denied it,” he said.
“They said this was all hysteria but anyone who has watched new Liberal governments has seen this before.”
To be commercial viability, Badgery’s Airport would need to operate 24/7, so all international and freight.
Freeing up Mascot for Joe’s domestic flights
‘Back Badgerys – or lose, Barry O’Farrell told‘ (SMH, March 2, 2014, by Kirsty Needham, NSW Politics Editor)
“Premier Barry O’Farrell’s reluctance to back a second Sydney airport and refusal to commit a cent to airport infrastructure are out of step with strong voter support for construction to begin at Badgerys Creek.
Mr O’Farrell is being lobbied by his western Sydney MPs to get behind a second airport. The Liberal member for Mulgoa, Tanya Davies, met him last week to convey a message from her electorate that they want the airport built, and the rail and road upgrades it would bring.
”He needed to be made aware of the feedback I was getting,” said Mrs Davies, whose seat includes the Badgerys Creek site. ”They said two things: they were in support, or wanted to see the infrastructure delivered.”
This comes as an exclusive Fairfax-Nielsen poll shows 72 per cent of NSW voters want an airport at Badgerys Creek, while only 20 per cent oppose it. Support is even stronger among major party voters (74 per cent).
The support is in stark contrast to a Newspoll taken 16 years ago that found 70 per cent of voters were either opposed or undecided.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is preparing to announce a decision on the second airport, but Mr O’Farrell has called for the federal government to first commit significant funding for a new rail and road package, because NSW was not prepared to foot the bill.
Addressing Parliament last week, Mr O’Farrell again said it was ‘‘a matter for the federal government’’, and warned hospital upgrades and the West Connex and Pacific Highway upgrades would be put at risk if the state had to pay for airport infrastructure.
NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson announced Labor’s support for an airport at Badgerys Creek a fortnight ago, saying it could transform western Sydney.
Fairfax Media on Saturday reported a 15 per cent swing against the O’Farrell government, which puts Labor ahead for the first time since 2008, and puts at risk a swag of western Sydney Liberal seats surrounding Badgerys Creek.
Mrs Davies, on a 12 per cent margin, said there had been a ‘‘significant shift’’ in western Sydney’s views on an airport, and it was likely to reignite as an election issue in 2015 if a decision was made or was imminent.
‘‘Roads in western Sydney are already congested, and will become worse unless they are upgraded,’’ she said. Residents wanted the jobs boost an airport would bring and more convenient access to an airport. They also believed it would bring tourism to the area.
The state government needed a ‘‘shopping list of the necessary infrastructure ready and lodged’’, so any announcement by the Abbott government ‘‘is not just an airport in a cow paddock’’, she said.
Mr O’Farrell was hearing the same thing from other western Sydney MPs, she said.
The Liberal MP for Londonderry, Bart Bassett, said a second airport would be a ‘‘major jobs driver’’ that would bring much needed cross-regional roads and rail links to the west. Mr Bassett’s seat has a narrow 5 per cent margin after a boundary change and he is seeking to move to the neighbouring seat of Hawkesbury.
‘‘Twenty years ago in western Sydney an airport was used as an election scare campaign … but the area is now a broad mix of professionals and tradespeople and everybody travels by air. They are sick of travelling to Mascot because of the cost and time and traffic clogging the freeways,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t see anything else on the horizon that would create the jobs that another airport would create.’’
Penrith MP Stuart Ayres, on a 16per cent margin, said the community wanted a decision made. But the Minister Assisting the Premier on Western Sydney said he shared Mr O’Farrell’s caution, and it was a decision for the federal government.
‘‘There might be opportunities associated with jobs development, but there are also social costs such as airport noise,’’ Mr Ayres said.
He said until the alignment of runways was known, there would be community unease about noise. ‘‘It needs to be supported by enabling infrastructure, roads and rail, or there is little likelihood of a jobs boom in western Sydney,’’ he said.
The Liberal MP for Camden, Chris Patterson, whose boundary moves to include the airport site at the 2015 election, said he had long opposed an airport at Badgerys Creek, although local businesses supported it. ‘‘The business community is absolutely for it,’’ he said.
Mr Patterson said an airport would impact on the thousands of residents who had moved into new housing estates built since the airport site was identified. ‘‘I don’t think the airport is the gift that is touted. But the infrastructure, the roads and rail, that need to come with it, are the gift,’’ he said.
The Premier’s office did not want to comment.”
March 6, 2014: NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell finally signals support for Badgerys Creek airport in secret meeting with Prime Minister Tony Abbott
Abbott’s “on board” Barry does not look happy here. Abbott bullied O’Farrell into politically changing his mind on Badgerys Creek Airport because mutual Liberal Party polling had showed new Liberal voters across Western Sydney apparently expected more action from Barry’s state government.
O’Farrell: “Aviation is a federal responsibility. My concern is that federal infrastructure needs to be funded to support it”.
Only Barry knows the truth of Abbott’s bullying.