Mike O’Connor: Airport noise will not drown out the protesters

Brisbane Airport Corporation are trying their best to paint those who complain of flight path noise as backward-thinking Luddites. Their arguments smack of arrogance, writes Mike O’Connor.

How fortunate we are to have the Brisbane Airport Corporation in our midst for without it our city would ­suffer that most ignoble of fates and become a “great big country town”.

This was dire warning issued in these pages last week by Shane ­Rodgers, the national chief operating officer of the Australian Industry Group, in a condemnation of those residents complaining about aircraft noise levels since the opening of the BAC’s second runway.

BAC is a member of AIG so Rodgers’s defence of its position on behalf of his masters was hardly surprising, but a little perspective might be ­helpful.

The AIG argument is that the airport is essential to the economic prosperity of the city and if those who question its modus operandi are ­allowed, by weight of public opinion and political pressure to change the way it works, then the whole state will retreat into an economic Ice Age.

This is a laughable scare tactic to be treated with the derision it deserves.

What the people of New Farm, Teneriffe, Bulimba, Balmoral, Hamilton, Ascot and a number of western suburbs are asking is for more flights be directed over Moreton Bay.

In dismissing the concerns of residents, Rodgers said: “Short of junking a $1.1bn asset, it is hard to see any outcome from the current protests that would solve the noise issue to the satisfaction of the loudest protesters.”

Brisbane residents rallying outside Brisbane Airport Corporation in protest against fight path noise. Picture: Tara Croser.

No one at any point has advocated the “junking” of the airport and no good purpose is served by attempting to portray the residents as latter day Luddites. Their concerns are with flight paths and there are a number of retired and currently employed airline pilots who have made intelligent, considered suggestions as to how the air traffic control could be better managed.

I live in Newstead and am not ­directly affected by aircraft noise, but I am involved in the extended ­community and I listen to its voice and it tells me that people feel that they have been treated as fools.

Rodgers said that residents had no grounds for complaining about the noise because “there was a ­substantial community campaign to warn us all about that”.

There was and it was completely misleading. Whether this was by design is unknown, but people were lulled into the belief that there would be minimal impact on their quality of life.

They believed the assurances ­contained in the glossy brochures and were ill-prepared for the ugly reality of aircraft rattling their windows as they roar a few hundred metres overhead, rendering conversation impossible.

Brisbane residents rallying outside Brisbane Airport Corporation in protest against fight path noise. Picture: Tara Croser.

The people feel they have been deceived and are exercising their democratic right to voice their concerns and convey these concerns to the politicians who are paid to represent them.

In his defence of BAC, Rodgers wrote that “we do not have the luxury to squander opportunities to create high-skill, high-pay jobs for our children and grandchildren”.

Let’s get one thing straight – the executives at BAC do not lie awake at night trying to think of new ways to improve the lives of Queenslanders.

BAC exists to make money for its investors. It is not a benevolent society. These investors include the government-owned Queensland Investment Corporation with a 25 per cent holding so as taxpayers, the people protesting at the degradation of their life quality are part owners of the airport.

You might wonder then why, when they gathered at BAC’s airport office last week to hand over petitions stating their case and to stage a peaceful demonstration, BAC staff locked the doors and refused to meet them. Instead of inviting a group of perhaps a dozen inside for a cup of tea in the boardroom, BAC executives chose to hide inside from the people who in a sense, employ them.

As a public relations own-goal, it takes some beating. It also smacks of arrogance and had the effect of making people even more determined to press their case. The sin of the ­protesters has been to mount a very public campaign that has attracted widespread attention. This was never supposed to happen.

Rodgers says: “If you have a ­particular problem with airport noise, or any other noise that comes with living in a busy city, you really should move somewhere quiet.”

In other words shut up, cop it sweet and let the BAC get on with the serious business of making money.

I grew up in this ”great big country town” and have nothing but fond memories of the experience. It was a time of neighbourliness and respect for the rights and feelings of your fellows.

If anyone should be thinking of moving, perhaps it should be those who would put profit before people and seek to drive them from their homes in the name of progress.