Sydney Airport's outspoken chairman, Max Moore-Wilton, has accused federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese of embarking on a ''completely confected beat-up'' to retain his electorate.
Mr Moore-Wilton's comments come a day after the Deputy Prime Minister, whose electorate of Grayndler is under one of Sydney Airport's flight paths, said he was ''absolutely determined'' to start construction of an airport within three years if Labor was re-elected.
''If a second Sydney airport is the No.1 priority for an incoming government, it will be a complete and utter waste of public money,'' Mr Moore-Wilton said.
Mr Moore-Wilton, a former secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet under John Howard, described Mr Albanese's commitment to building an airport within three years as nothing more than a ''completely confected beat-up to win the seat of Grayndler against the Greens''.
Advertisement
''There is not one recognised business person who has experience in infrastructure that supports the waste of scarce infrastructure capital to build a second Sydney airport within the time frames that Mr Albanese announced,'' he said.
''I don't know how many studies have to be undertaken to show there is no immediate need for a second Sydney airport.''
Mr Albanese's main challenger for Grayndler, Greens candidate Hall Greenland, said the minister's comments were his ''usual election-time routine''. ''As the minister responsible for Sydney's airport problems, he has had six years in the job and all that has happened is that aircraft noise and pollution have got worse over his inner-west electorate of Grayndler,'' Mr Greenland said.
London mayor Boris Johnson recently called for Heathrow airport to be closed and replaced with housing and Mr Greenland backed this idea for Sydney.
''That is the only answer that solves current problems, doesn't shift them on to other parts of Sydney or exacerbate current ones, allows for a 24/7 airport and can be paid for by the redevelopment of the present site as a model sustainable suburb on Botany Bay,'' Mr Greenland said. ''Boris Johnson has made such 21st-century thinking mainstream.''
Mr Greenland could not nominate an alternate site for an airport for Sydney but said it should not be Badgerys Creek.
Sydney Airport has long maintained that its passenger terminals and landing slots will not be full until 2045 - a forecast disputed by proponents of a second airport, including the federal government.
Asked whether there was an appetite for a relaxation of the airport's cap and curfew, Mr Moore-Wilton said: ''There is nothing stopping the increase and productivity of Sydney Airport other than Anthony Albanese.''
Premier Barry O'Farrell has proposed lifting the cap on flights from 80 to 85 flights an hour, a proposal rejected by Mr Albanese.
Mr O'Farrell has also suggested that more flights be allowed to land in the ''curfew shoulder'' period between 11pm and midnight and 5am and 6am.
The decision is not one for the state government but the federal Transport Minster.
Mr Albanese does not propose replacing Mascot airport but supplementing it with another one.
Read more:
Albanese's new airport promise branded an election beat-up