MEDIA RELEASE | Greens Seek Airport Curfew
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008The Greens have moved a motion in the Senate seeking support for a night time curfew for Canberra Airport, candidate for Molonglo Shane Rattenbury announced today.
“This motion seeks to establish a night time curfew from 11pm until 6am, to ensure that residents of north Canberra and Gungahlin can have an uninterrupted night’s sleep,” said Rattenbury.
“Forecasts for the future growth of Canberra airport show a worst case scenario of up to 20 aircraft movements per hour between midnight and 5am. The Greens believe that is an unacceptable potential impact on residents lives.”
“The ACT Greens are working with our Federal counterparts in the Senate to seek to address this problem. Whilst the Government is arguing that the current number of aircraft does not justify a curfew, it is better to act now than create a problem and then have a dispute about how to fix it.”
“Canberra airport should be provided with certainty about the future environment in which they can operate, so setting the parameters now is the fairest way to do that.”
“The ACT Greens are calling on ACT Labor and Liberals to make the case for a curfew to their Federal colleagues in the interest of Canberra residents.”
The text of the motion introduced by Senator Bob Brown is:
That the Senate notes :
a) the community opposition to 24 hour operations at Canberra airport;
b) the current effective operation of curfews in Sydney, Coolangatta, Essendon and Adelaide; and
c) Calls on the Government to implement a curfew at Canberra airport.
The motion will be debated in the Senate on 13 October.