"It goes round and round every six months or so and they throw up Richmond as a possibility for another commercial airport for Sydney," he said.I'd say that's a fair assessment, Mr Bassett. This story does seem to crop up every six months, give or take a bit.
On the face of it, it does seem only right and proper that Sydney should have a second commercial airport. Sydney Airport is pretty much at capacity! It would be awful if the two or three hundred people left in the world who actually wanted to visit were somehow denied the opportunity because there wasn't space for them on a flight...
Brief investigation reveals that Sydney's second airport needs have been a hot political topic since just after WWII ended. And lets not even begin to think about how much money has been spent on purchasing property at the proposed sites, feasibility reports, consultation and so on. It will only make you angry that the money hasn't been spent on employing nurses. And the last thing that we need at this time of health funding shortfall is people being outraged into having apoplexies. You'll probably die tragically in the emergency room, with not even a change in health policy to show for your sacrifice.
But back to the rant at hand. You see, there are inevitable problems with a second Sydney airport. Firstly, people in Richmond will be up in arms about the aircraft noise over their historic towns. This is despite the fact that there is already aircraft noise over their historic towns, and those old military planes are a damn sight louder than modern passenger jets. Also, it has been shown convincingly that the historical suburbs under Sydney Airport's flight paths have gotten used to the noise. So grin and bear it, Hawkesburians. Think about how cheap the taxi fare to the second airport will be, and how many jobs it will bring. You'll wonder how you used to put up with a two hour drive to get a ninety minute flight, plus airport parking that cost more than your car was worth.
Of course there is one person who would be absolutely delighted to have Sydney's second airport, whether it is given to him or he can claim it by default. And that person is Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron. Being as they're already spending some money on doing Canberra Airport up a little, it would be no trouble to put up a couple more signs while they're at it. Maybe a tasteful "Welcome to Sydney" sign underneath to the "Welcome to Canberra" one? Of course three hours is a bit of a long transfer for most travellers' liking, so there would probably be a market for connecting flights from Canberra to Sydney... oh hang on...
Besides the fact that the only thing that would make the Canberra Airport work as a second Sydney airport is the building of a high speed rail connection, or, more likely, the invention of the teleport, either of which would possibly render both airports redundant, there are other reasons against adopting Canberra as Sydney's second airport. Like the fact that it's possible some Sydney residents may actually see Canberra while they are there, and decide it's a much nicer place to live than Sydney.
Regardless of if or where the second Sydney airport is built, it still won't change the problem that everyone has when they get here, namely, it's impossible to get around. Diverting air freight to Canberra just means more trucks hogging the Federal Highway and slowing down the pollies' cars. Making Richmond RAAF base a commercial airport just means Clarendon Station will be renovated by a private consortium who will then charge a $5o "station access fee" in line with the other private consortium bastards over at Mascot. The newly upgraded Windsor Road will be even more congested than before the upgrade, full of taxis and impatient people on their way to drop off or pick up folk from the airport.
The solution is clear, people! We need to put the money that was going to be spent on the second airport nonsense towards something useful, like teleport research. I shall set up a Teleport Institute post haste.
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