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The
Moorabbin Airport Residents'
Association was formed 11 years ago to address the concerns of the City
of Kingston residents affected by Moorabbin Airport.
Our
President, Tom Uren, (Kingston Citizen of the Year 2005) attends
meetings of the Moorabbin Airport Corporation Consultative Committee to
present those views and concerns. Some of our concerns
are:
SAFETY - Since our
inception we have aired our deep concern to the Moorabbin Airport
Corporation,
(MAC), regarding the Airport location in a densely built-up suburban
area. There have been a number of 'near miss' incidents and
the latest aircraft crash in August, 2008, (after mid-air contact with
another aircraft), narrowly missed a Primary School and fell
onto a home garage in the middle of suburban Cheltenham.
Had the second plane also crashed, the outcome would have been
horrendous.
NOISE
POLLUTION - For many
years the level of discomfort due to the detrimental effect
of incessant noise has negatively impacted on
residents. Their enjoyment of life, both inside and outside
their homes, has diminished due to the ever-busier nature of
circuit flight training, helicopter movements and commercial
flights. Despite our appeals to all levels of Government, we
have been unsuccessful in achieving any improvements. UNCONTROLLED
AND
UNREGULATED LAND DEVELOPMENT - MAC is not subject
to ANY Local or State Laws and
Regulations. They only answer to Canberra.
THEY ARE THEIR OWN PLANNING AUTHORITY. What has happened over the term of
their lease is that huge areas of Airport land have
been developed as factories, warehousing, office space and shopping
centres. (DFO is on Airport land.) A lot more
development will occur. The latest
encroachment of green area to be resumed by MAC is the Moorabbin Golf
Course, situated along the eastern and southern perimeters of
Airport land (very close to the runways). No one knows what
MAC is planning for this area, and they are not subject to any
Victorian local or state law. The Golf Course was
developed 40 years ago on Commonwealth Aircraft land by the local
council as an area of recreation for the residents. When the
land was leased to MAC by the Commonwealth, no provision to retain the
Golf Course was made. A "Save
the Golf Course" group
has been unsuccessful in appealing to the Commonwealth Government to
overturn this. Similar representations to Goodman Holdings -
which MAC is a part of - to retain the Golf Course, as a gesture of
appreciation for the profits they have made from their land development
projects, have also been unsuccessful.
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