Homeowners near Melbourne Airport says consultative group has not addressed third runway fears

FRUSTRATED people living near Melbourne Airport want an inquiry into an aviation consultative group which they say has not addressed concerns about the future development of a third runway.

FRUSTRATED householders living near Melbourne Airport have called for an independent inquiry into the purposes of an aviation consultative group.

Husband and wife Dennis and Deanna Ruggiero said they attended an August meeting of Melbourne Airport’s Community Aviation Consultation Group (CACG) in Gladstone Park.

Mr Ruggerio said they and many other residents felt disappointed the group had not addressed longstanding concerns about the future development of a third runway at Tullamarine, such as low flying aircraft, no plans to compensate residents for decreasing property values and a lack of a curfew on the airport.

“As active members of our community concerned by all of these issues, we have been regularly attending CACG meetings, for over four years now, asking questions regarding how the proposed third runway will affect our family and our community,” he said.

Ms Ruggiero suggested an independent inquiry into the consultative group’s purpose was needed.

Gladstone Park’s Frank Rivoli, a CACG community representative, said many residents were “pretty frustrated”.

“Melbourne Airport has chosen not to directly engage with us, it’s chosen to engage through CACG — which is a process going nowhere, which is pretty disappointing,” he said.

Melbourne Airport’s executive of corporate and public affairs Carly Dixon said the airport was undertaking a number of studies to form the third runway’s major development plan.

“Once the study findings are available we will share them with the public and at CACG meetings,” she said.

“We appreciate that we have been undertaking the studies for a while now and that the community feels some frustration as we are not able to answer many of their questions until the studies are completed.”

Ms Dixon said the CACG was an independent forum — including community representatives — which allowed the public to raise issues about the airport.

“Not all CACGs around the country offer an opportunity for the community to ask questions, however we see it as an important part of our community engagement,” Ms Dixon said.

Brie Colley, a spokeswoman for the federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester, said there were “no plans to consider implementation of a curfew at Melbourne Airport”.

She said the Department of the Environment and Energy regularly engaged with airport operators to understand the scope of their community engagement activities.