First, an extraordinary admission during Senate Estimates, where Airservices Australia revealed it had mistaken a KFC restaurant for Tingalpa State School when responding to concerns about aircraft noise affecting hundreds of students. Then, closer to home, Ipswich City Council has voted to prioritise ratepayer-funded home security measures for councillors, despite concerns about the cost to residents. Joining us to discuss both issues is Queensland Liberal Senator Paul Scarr.
Good morning, Paul.
Paul Scarr: Great to be with you, Damo, and your listeners.
Damo: It is good to talk to you.
First, let’s start with this extraordinary revelation from Senate Estimates. How can they confuse a school with a KFC?
Paul Scarr: Yeah, it’s quite ridiculous in many ways, isn’t it? But there’s a serious underlying issue, and that is Airservices Australia has released a new noise management plan with respect to the noise generated from Brisbane Airport, especially after the construction of that second runway.
Damo: Yes.
Paul Scarr: And a lot of the residents simply are not happy, Damo. It’s difficult to put yourself in the position of some of these residents, who have to deal with this terrible aircraft noise impacting their sleep. At times, the noise is almost continual. It impacts schools and childcare centres, and it really is a case of residents up against a big bureaucracy and institution.
So I was pleased I had the opportunity to shine some light on it during Senate Estimates this week.
Damo: Because over that school especially, there’s something like an average of 56 flights every single day, isn’t there?
Paul Scarr: Yeah, exactly. So when Airservices Australia, who are meant to be across these issues, respond to a concerned resident and say, “Well, there’s no issue here because the school’s all the way down the road to the west,” but they flag the KFC as a school, I mean, you could hardly write this stuff if you wanted to.
Damo: No, you couldn’t. And the Chief Risk Officer admitted she’d never actually been to Tingalpa. This points to a much bigger problem, though, doesn’t it? The way Airservices Australia handles community complaints.
Paul Scarr: Well, exactly. I’d actually raised the issue of Tingalpa State School and the people in Tingalpa, Gumdale and that part of Brisbane at previous Estimates hearings. I put on notice that I wanted the Chief Risk Officer to advise us where she had visited and where she had held community meetings.
That’s when we got the revelation that she’d never been to Tingalpa, she’d never been to Gumdale, and she’d never been to Brookfield, which is another area where residents frequently raise concerns with me about aircraft noise.
So, very disappointing.
Damo: How can you assess the risk if you’ve never been there?
Paul Scarr: Well, exactly. And we’re talking about kids in schools, Damo. How are kids meant to focus if you’ve got this incessant aircraft noise?
The other thing, Damo, is there’s an option, and I’ve been raising this as well, but I haven’t received a satisfactory answer. Why aren’t the flights tracking over the Gateway Motorway?
It just seems to me like common sense that if you’ve got aircraft noise, the best way to protect the greatest number of residents is to use that Gateway Motorway corridor because the noise is already there. You’re going to lessen the impact on residents, and we still haven’t received a satisfactory answer to that question.
Damo: So where to next with this situation?
Paul Scarr: Well, there’s a heap of questions we’ve asked Airservices Australia. I suspect they’ll go away and reflect on what happened during the course of this week.
I’ll keep standing up and fighting for the residents of Queensland, Damo. That’s my job. Senate Estimates is one of the forums in which I can do that.
Damo: All right, mate. We’ve got a couple of minutes left. Let’s quickly turn to Ipswich City Council, which is in your backyard.
They’ve voted to give themselves a $6,500 allowance to install security measures at their private homes, using taxpayers’ money. Is that a fair call?
Paul Scarr: Look, I’m not going to second-guess the decisions of Ipswich City councillors.
I would say that, from a federal perspective, federal Members of Parliament don’t receive any allowance for home security. Obviously, a number of federal parliamentarians, because of their profile and the nature of the work they do, have protective services provided by the Australian Federal Police.
I’d just make this observation. It underlines, Damo, that concerns around security exist at all levels of government. It isn’t just a federal issue.
The second point I’d make is that, as a general principle, best practice is for all sitting members, councillors, mayors, and representatives at local, state and federal levels to come together and arrive at an agreed position, rather than be split on issues like this.
Damo: Well, of course, it was presented as a motion at the LGAQ conference in Cairns last week, and the consensus among the 77 councils was that they would approach the government to seek legislative reform so they could get better responses from police and have access to better information, and so on.
But there was no mention of getting funding to install security systems at their own homes.
Paul Scarr: Yeah, it’s a big step, Damo. It’s a big step.
I know the ratepayers of Ipswich want the basic services delivered by council: rates, roads and rubbish, right? So it is a significant step.
I’m surprised they didn’t pursue some form of independent review or analysis before the majority of them came to that decision.
Damo: Well, we appreciate your time this morning. I know you’re about to jump on a plane. Is that finally to head home from Canberra?
Paul Scarr: Mate, I’m heading home, but I’ll only be there for three hours before I drive out to Chinchilla for the weekend.
Damo: Well, at least you’re in Queensland.
Paul Scarr: That’s right.
Damo: Well, have a safe flight, and we appreciate your time this morning.
Paul Scarr: Okay, and I might see some of your listeners on the road between Brisbane and Chinchilla.
Damo: No doubt you will, mate. Have a great one.
Paul Scarr: Okay, mate.
