Government open to rival operator for second Sydney airport

The federal government is open to developing Sydney’s second airport as a competitor to Kingsford Smith.

Former Sydney Airport Corporation chairman Max Moore-Wilton: a second airport at Badgerys Creek is a ‘complete waste of money’. Picture: David Moir

The federal government is open to developing Sydney’s second airport as a competitor to Kingsford Smith even as it is forced to follow contractual obligations to offer the new airport to Sydney Airport Corporation.

Industry and government sources have told The Australian that ideally the federal government would prefer a second operator for Badgerys Creek.

Under contractual agreements, SAC had to be offered the first opportunity to run the new airport.

Chris Brown, who was on the committee that chose Badgerys Creek, criticised the lack of progress on the project and urged the government to “get the deal done now’’ with SAC.

SAC declined to comment but Max Moore-Wilton, its former chairman, said Badgerys Creek was a “complete waste of money”. He said he was confident SAC would represent its shareholders when considering whether to take up its option to run Badgerys Creek.

He said politicians such as Labor’s Anthony Albanese and former federal treasurer Joe Hockey had “never earned a ­dollar in the real world, so I don’t ­suppose they understand” the economics of a second Sydney airport.

Mr Brown warned the federal government not to attempt to build Badgerys Creek airport itself out of a desire to foster competition with Kingsford Smith. He urged it to deal with SAC to build and operate Badgerys Creek.

“Sydney Airport Corporation and the federal government, sit down and get the deal done now,” Mr Brown said.

“Get it done ­because any delay simply breaks the hearts of a ­region.”

The head of the Western Sydney Business Chamber, David Borger, said he was concerned about the lack of progress on the airport.

“I think we are going a bit ­slower than people expected, and the bottom line is ‘Time kills all deals’,’’ he said.

“We really do need to have momentum on this project.”

The federal government is close to giving SAC a proposal to operate Badgerys Creek under the terms of the contract that privatised Kingsford Smith in 2002.