Smartest guys in the room that's for sure.
Not the smartest guys in the room: anyone can borrow money.
They were the
most networked guys in the room.
One critical point that is often overlooked in the discussion about the second Sydney airport is that the sale agreement for all the shares in SACL (the company that holds the 50 year lease of the KSA site, starting 1 July 1998, with an option to renew for 49 years)
also gave the purchaser a 30 year right of refusal to build and operate any second major airport within 100 kilometres of the Sydney CBD.
So, in order to get a second Sydney airport up and running, not only does it have to be electorally ‘popular’ – i.e. not potentially result in critical seats being lost to the government which makes the decision - but it must also result in the monopoly trough being deepened and widened for the current owners of the KSA lease. (Yeah: Like they’d really waive their right of refusal and let someone else build and operate another international airport in the Sydney basin. Competition is for patsies …
)