I am pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Fitzgerald as the new chair of the Sydney Airport Community Forum (SACF), following the resignation of Barry Cotter.

As a local resident, long-standing member of SACF, Chief Executive Officer of the City of Botany Bay, a former Mayor of Drummoyne and chair of the Australian Mayoral Aviation Council (AMAC), Mr Fitzgerald has had a long involvement with Sydney Airport.

Mr Fitzgerald brings a wealth of experience to the role and has been instrumental in establishing a constructive dialogue between the airport and the community.

I would also recognise Mr Cotter’s record of service and thank him for his stewardship of the Forum over the past three years.

SACF is an important voice for the over 800,000 people who live around the Airport, giving them a direct channel to engage with Sydney Airport Corporation and AirServices on the Airport’s noise sharing plan.

It’s also an important source of advice for government on noise abatement and related environmental issues.

In one of my first acts as Aviation Minister in January 2008, I honoured Federal Labor’s election pledge and re-established SACF.

The Gillard Labor Government is committed to making sure that noise sharing arrangements are better implemented for Sydney Airport and that SACF is central to these efforts.

Since coming to office we have implemented a range of policies to help minimise the impact of aircraft noise, including:

• Banning older, noisy aircraft from Sydney;


• Appointing an Aircraft Noise Ombudsman to give local residents the opportunity to raise issues and seek information;


• Requiring airports to consult with local residents on developments that are major, or have a significant community impact; and


• Maintaining the existing night time curfew and hourly movement cap at Sydney Airport.

Importantly, the government is undertaking a study with the state government into the future aviation needs of the Sydney region, including sites for a second airport.