As todays SMH editorial points out Albanese is just another bureaucratic mouthpiece creating activity without actually doing anything. Everything he accused the Howard government of doing he now does himself.
I'll throw a conspiracy theory out there that the 'the powers at be' don't really want a second airport at all and they will strangle any opportunity by any means in creating one. Dunno how else you could make the decisions that being made by governments on this issue
Superficially clever but deeply cynical and damaging for the state. That sums up how federal Labor and its Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, have obstructed progress on a vital second international airport for Sydney.
A government-commissioned study out this week shows yet again that a new airport is needed ''sooner rather than later'' to relieve the congested, costly and unsustainable one at Mascot.
Albanese's response - ordering yet more taxpayer-funded research into a demonstrably unsuitable site - reflects a lack of political courage to overcome his party's opposition to commonsense. It also reeks of disdain for everyone who would benefit from 30,000 new jobs and a $6 billion economic boost in the next two decades.
The latest report proves - this time by time-consuming and convoluted process of elimination -that the Commonwealth-owned Badgerys Creek site in the south-western suburbs is the only efficient, profitable and achievable option.
The RAAF base at Richmond as a spillover site for domestic flights would not happen for years and ''can only ever provide ancillary capacity for Sydney''. So the report tells everyone what was already known: there are only two possible greenfields sites and one, Wilton, is a dud.
Along with myriad environmental, construction and cost risks, the report says: ''The aviation industry is not convinced that an airport at Wilton is close enough to its primary market to make the case for the kind of investment needed to bring it into service''.
That leaves Badgerys Creek. It can connect to the new south-west rail, create thousands of jobs for the western suburbs and spur growth there. The noise will affect about 8200 people at capacity in 2060, when technology will have dulled the impact significantly. The Mascot airport affects 130,000 people now.
Badgerys Creek delivers the greatest benefits with the lowest costs. It is the industry's clear preference and, ironically, Albanese's. Yet Albanese insists all research be done to keep ruling out Wilton and Richmond is a viable alternative when, in fact, his approach is a cover for his party's protection of nervous Labor MPs in the region. Albanese cannot force the issue without jeopardising his status in the ALP.
In his early career, Albanese saw Badgerys as an answer to his inner-west constituents' hostility to aircraft noise. He opposed his party's prevarication on the issue during the Hawke and Keating years. And he made hay when the Howard government did nothing to address Sydney's looming need for more aviation capacity.
''Quite frankly, we've had study after study after study,'' the then backbencher Albanese told the ABC in 2000. ''What we actually need is the government to bite the bullet and get on with building a second airport for Sydney.''
Trouble was, in January 2004 Labor changed its policy to ditch Badgerys Creek. Two months later Albanese said: ''We do not want the problems of aircraft noise visited on anyone.'' When he became federal Transport Minister after the 2007 election, he stalled by commissioning green papers and white papers into the aviation industry. But they said next to nothing on where and how a second airport should be built.
Three years on, he commissioned another report, this time at vast expense and with state government bureaucrats on its steering committee for added sheen. The resulting 3200 pages released last year demonstrated what Albanese and everyone had known all along.
But Albanese still could not - or rather would not - advocate Badgerys.
Neither has Premier Barry O'Farrell, who likewise fears losing votes. Some Liberals in western Sydney councils are skirting around support for Badgerys but will undertake detailed community consultation only if the federal government rules out Wilton. All have failed to explain to their parties and the people that Badgerys Creek is a no-brainer.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey is among many federal Liberals who want it but Tony Abbott fears a voter backlash. In March he indicated Badgerys was not on the radar. Rather, ''down the track'', fixing transport problems ''means better use of Sydney Airport, it means better use of Bankstown and Richmond and, yes, it means better use of other airports too''.
What a convenient excuse for Albanese to hide behind: the ''we must have bipartisanship''. To quote the Albanese of 13 years ago: what we need is the government to bite the bullet and get on with building a second airport for Sydney.