Airport Forum ALP Cheer Squad- Stacking claims denied

Allan Rees from No Aircraft Noise, who was not invited to join the forum, was critical of the number of Labor Party members on it.

"Given its composition I suspect it will be a bit of a cheer squad for the Transport Minister," Mr Rees said.

The 25-person forum is made up of the state and federal members in seats surrounding or affected by the airport, local mayors, and airport and industry representatives. There are three community representatives, one of whom is Marrickville Labor councillor Barry Cotter.

Mr Rees said there should have been greater community representation on the forum.

"I would have liked to have seen actual community members and people who had been involved in the campaign on a community level," Mr Rees said.

Forum chair and former South Sydney Mayor Vic Smith described the stacking claim as nonsense and said Mr Rees' agenda was to close the airport. He said there was bipartisan representation on the committee.

"This forum is about feedback from the community and how it can be related to the (Sydney Airport) Corporation to let them know they're on notice," Mr Smith said.

When asked by The Glebe whether recommendations to the airport or the Federal Government would be voted on by the forum he said consensus would be sought.

"People who don't agree with the consensus can have their name recorded as not supporting the consensus," Mr Smith said.

Marrickville Mayor Dimitrios Thanos, an independent who is on the committee, said he did not think it had been stacked.

The reconvened forum met for the first time last Friday, during which Sydney Airport Corporation announced a delay in the construction of a safety area on the east-west runway so it could lodge a major development plan with the Federal Government for the work.

This is expected to be lodged in the coming weeks and will be put on public exhibition for 60 days.

The mandatory safety work on the east-west runway is estimated to take more than a year and will mean an additional eight to 24 planes an hour directed on to the north-south runways.

Work is now expected to begin in October once ministerial approval is obtained.

 http://www.theglebe.com.au/article/2008/02/20/2202_news.html