The latest public hearing of the Senate inquiry into the Impact and Mitigation of Aircraft Noise took place in Canberra on Friday 20th September. Here are some of the key, very concerning, takeaways;

• Doctors Hede and Ancich, along with Mr Williams gave evidence regarding the science of measuring noise. Some of the key points were that “Australia has failed dismally to continue its scholarly research on the effects of aircraft noise.” Dr Ancich was of the opinion that noise issues won’t be solved by “flight path variations” and other mitigation strategies (eg continuous descent) as there is no regulatory requirement for these to be implemented. He said a curfew was the only option to regulate such noise at night. Tony Williams was asked about best practices around the world and his answer was "Sydney when it is done the way it is supposed to" (or similar). They pointed out to the committee that the dose response data, as used with ANEF, for people's sensitivity to noise is 40 years old, and needs to be updated. The department said they had made a request to Standards Australia to update ANEF but have no idea whether that includes a new survey
• The CAAA (Community Aviation Alliance Australia) stated that the Aviation White Paper just released failed to address any health impacts of aircraft overflights
• It was clear that Air Services Australia (ASA), the department (DITRDCA), airport corporations, etc all believe that community engagement and consultation means letting people know how it is going to be so there will be no surprises. ASA said that they recognised people want a two-way dialogue and they want to see action on the ground
• The department was quizzed about the impact on wildlife and they responded that they had determined that there would be negligible impact on wildlife but failed to explain how they had arrived at that conclusion
• The department was questioned on the government's policy stance, published in the Aviation White paper, that there would be no restrictions imposed on airports. They were asked what research had been done into the social and economic impacts before adopting that policy. The response was that Zero research had been carried out and it was a decision of the government
• The department was questioned on where they prioritised the impacts of noise in their decision making / design processes. They read out sections of the Airports Act. There was no mention of the impact on people. When questioned on this the response was something like, "I guess it would come under Environment".
• The only noise mitigation strategy the department could state was continuous descent of aircraft which no airport in Australia has implemented. There is a trial underway in Melbourne but it has encountered challenges
• Senator Colbeck pointed out that Heathrow has a policy that when flights are under 7000ft  impact on community gets highest priority (after safety) with respect to flightpath design
• The department stated that they were instructed, when designing WSA flightpaths, to not impact the noise sharing arrangements at KSA and therefore do not support a holistic review of flights over the Sydney basin. They expect that no such review will take place until 2050.
• Western Sydney Airport Corporation (WSA) said that their main focus was on their shareholders but they want to ensure that when they open the community is behind them and their brand is protected
• Matt Canavan asked about the possibility of WSA doing some kind of research into impacts on the GBMWHA and on fauna. Their answer was that it would need to be funded and set up by Government.
• The Senators were very concerned by the fact that the Australian airline/airport industry was very self-focused and knew nothing about what happens regarding airports/flight paths elsewhere in the world.
• No department is responsible for tracking the use of leaded aviation fuels and so there is zero data on how much lead is being released into the atmosphere or into our water supply

We were encouraged to contact the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman with our concerns:- https://ano.gov.au/