Thread by @BFPCA_

#60ProtestReasons: 37 – How our curfew was stolen
Have you seen those silly comments from the usual trolls 👹 saying, “The airport was there before you”…? Well, two facts: (1) @BrisbaneAirport in its current location only opened on 19 March 1988. Before that, Brisbane was ...

... serviced by the Eagle Farm airport next to Doomben racecourse. (2) Eagle Farm airport not only had the benefit of a much more noise-friendly cross-runway, IT HAD A NIGHT-TIME CURFEW.

What happened?

Eagle Farm airport had a curfew due to noise pollution over residential areas. When Eagle Farm closed, @BrisbaneAirport opened in its current location with no curfew imposed. What is now called the Legacy runway brought aircraft in over (then as yet undeveloped) Murarrie.

With the removal of the flight paths over the Ascot and Hendra residential areas, @BrisbaneAirport argued there was no need for a curfew, and it also suited their commercial interests as a private corporation to have no restrictions in place.

Since @BrisbaneAirport has now reintroduced extreme noise pollution even louder, more severe, more wide-spread and more frequent over residential areas than ever before, the night-time curfew must be reintroduced urgently.

Albanese’s Aviation White Paper 2009:
In the @MrKRudd Kevin’07 government, @AlboMP was Minister for Infrastructure & Transport. He published his Aviation Policy White Paper in 2009 (– a document that @CatherineKingMP is now wanting to update). It says on page 208:

Ironically, it is @CatherineKingMP in the current @AlboMP Government who is now categorically ruling out to even consider a curfew for #Brisbane. The curfew option was removed from the scope of the PIR, and the five community members of the new Airport Advisory Board (AAB) ...

have been gagged and are not allowed to even mention it. But back to 2013…

It is disappointing to see that “periodic” reviews as promised in @MrKRudd / @AlboMP's white paper 2009 never happened – just one: in 2013. It was conducted by a sham committee comprising:

A departmental minute from 16 May 2012 released under FOI-13-29 lists under the heading “Sensitivities:”
"We have not suggested nominating a community representative on the Committee at this stage."

Further deliberations by this committee (FOI-14-66) demonstrate the careful wordsmithing that occurred of the report’s findings & recommendations to ensure @BrisbaneAirport remained unconstrained and curfew-free – a result that was predetermined before the committee even started.

The review report states on page 30:

Under Commonwealth legislation, night-time curfews have operated successfully for a long time at Sydney, Gold Coast, Adelaide & Essendon Airports between 11pm and 6am. The purpose of these curfews is to restrict aircraft operations during this time, to provide the communities ...

surrounding these airports with some respite from aircraft noise.
It is a legal requirement to meet the conditions of these curfews. Heavy fines apply for organisations that land or take-off during the curfew hours. While airlines can apply to land during curfew hours, ...

they must be able to prove that they could not make alternative arrangements and the need to land during curfew hours could not be avoided. Such dispensations are only given in exceptional circumstances.

.@BrisbaneAirport spokespeople & PR spin doctors argue that a night-time curfew at Brisbane Airport will paralyse the entire Eastern seaboard, catapult Australia into the stone age & humanity will come to a standstill. This is of course absolute nonsense. Not only has Sydney...

grown and prospered since its curfew was legislated, the capital airports of the next two Olympic host cities Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 have curfews in order to protect their host communities.

Join BFPCA’s protest to demand a night-time curfew be reinstated for Brisbane in conjunction with a flight cap and a Long-Term Operating Plan. bfpca.org.au/protest/

Sources: bfpca.org.au/37-curfew/