Updated
Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says the next stage of a study into high speed rail will show it may be too disruptive to be a viable alternative for a second Sydney airport. He says the report will identify the need for 200km wide corridors, extensive tunnelling through Sydney and exhaust stacks. The Greens say the Government is trying to back out of supporting high speed rail.
Naomi Woodley
Source: AM | Duration: 3min 37sec
Topics: rail-transport, air-transport, sydney-2000
TIM PALMER: The Prime Minister's campaign through Western Sydney this week is putting a lot of focus on solving traffic congestion, but the solution to another transport problem would appear as elusive as ever.
The debate over a second Sydney airport has run for decades but the Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says the Government is inching towards identifying a suitable site.
In a speech to the Sydney Institute, he's also signalled that the next stage of a study into high speed rail will show that it may be too noisy and environmentally damaging to be a viable alternative.
From Canberra, Naomi Woodley reports.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Prime Minister Julia Gillard's western Sydney trip hasn't yet featured a campaign style street-walk, but she's certainly conducting a media blitz.
JULIA GILLARD: Sydney's West is a fantastic place, I've had a great day here today.
I've done things today which really have given me a great sense of what's going on.
MAN: Hanging in the hood, aren't we Julia?
JULIA GILLARD: That's exactly what we're doing.
MAN: Hanging in the hood.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Government and Opposition are devoting a lot of attention to road infrastructure in Sydney's west, but transport gridlock of another kind is unlikely to be resolved soon.
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Our major infrastructure challenges, like Sydney's second airport, will not go away, they will only become more urgent.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says the Government is making progress towards resolving the question of a second Sydney airport.
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Firstly, we need strong political leadership and a bipartisan approach. This requires a recognition that saying no to a second Sydney airport is saying no to jobs, no to economic growth, and no to Sydney's future position as a global city.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Opposition is maintaining a very small target policy. It says it's up to the Government to put forward a proposal before it decides on its own policy - despite several high profile frontbenchers advocating the need for a second airport.
The New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell would prefer a high speed rail link to Canberra's airport, which is also supported by the Greens.
But Anthony Albanese says that may change when the next stage of a study into high speed rail is released in the next couple of months.
ANTHONY ALBANESE: As a high speed rail train passes, the noise level will reach 100 decibels. The study I've commissioned into high speed rail from Melbourne to Brisbane proposes a track that is 1,750 kilometres long.
Importantly, it includes over 144 kilometres of tunnelling, much of it in Sydney, which is the only way that a high speed rail network can be built through a city such as Sydney.
NAOMI WOODLEY: He says the study also identifies potential sites for exhaust stacks, and the need for corridors 200 kilometres wide.
Anthony Albanese says he's a supporter of high speed rail, but wants a realistic debate.
The Greens Deputy leader Adam Bandt thinks the Minister has different priorities.
ADAM BANDT: Australia and Antarctica are now the only two continents in the world where there is no high speed rail project underway and I worry that if we leave it up to Labor, the penguins are going to beat us to it.
NAOMI WOODLEY: He says environmental and community concerns could be resolved.
ADAM BANDT: As these projects are developed, there will always be discussions about the most appropriate route and so on and environmental consequences that have to be weighed up. These are the debates that we're going to have.
TIM PALMER: The Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt ending Naomi Woodley's report.
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