Audit Doubt over Badgerys Creek Draft EIS ?

In their report released on 30^th January 1998, the independent audit consultants SMEC Australia state that there are serious flaws in the Draft EIS process for the Second Sydney Airport.

The audit report was available at Australian EIA Notification Site http://www.environment.gov.au/portfolio/epg/eianet/notifications/GI1.html as HTML or PDF but link broke in 2002. A summary is below.

SMEC were retained by the Minister for Environment as a watchdog over the performance of the EIS consultants, PPK. This was to meet promises to abide by recommendations of the Senate Select Committee report "Falling on Deaf Ears". The Senate Committee investigated the debacle over the Third Runway expansion at KSA, and having the process audited was a key recommendation.

The Draft EIS was released for public comment on 22^nd December, 1997. While the public was told persistently that there would be no delay in release of the audit report, it did not appear for another month. Too hot to handle ?

SMEC's criticisms included:

The Federal Government had failed to define a role for Sydney's Second Airport.

Time and costs constraints imposed by the Dept of Transport on its EIS consultants, the firm PPK.

BEAR Comment: It's a clever tactic to pretend to do an EIS, but set such unrealistic deadlines that it can't be done properly. This table shows how things were at the start of the Second Airport EIS.

3rd Runway at KSA	SSA -Badgerys Creek/Holsworthy	Ratio (SSA/ KSA)	Summary
cost over $9 million for EIS study	budgeted $1.8 m for EIS	1:5
2 years to complete to the Draft EIS stage	6 + 2 months to complete to Draft EIS	1:3	Much less resourcing (improved from 1:4 now)
1 runway	6 runways per site	12:1
1 site, already an airport	two green field sites	2:1	Much more work

In the end, it took some 18 months to get to the revised Draft EIS on the Badgerys Creek proposals alone, with its 6 runways in three options. Still well short of the resourcing for the poorly done Third Runway. No wonder there are serious flaws.

The environmental consequences of doing nothing, especially regarding the impacts on Sydney Airport was not addressed

BEAR: This omission will leave the government free to proceed to do nothing, at least until the next election, if not for longer.

As it turned out, by mid-2003 the Government was firmly committed to the thoroughly unevaluated do-nothing option.

The auditor's complaints about failure to evaluate this, ironically, had Fallen on Deaf Ears.

There is no identification of how the existing airport and the new one would operate together to minimize the impact of aircraft noise in Sydney

The draft EIS presents its results on airport hazard and risk analysis in a way that implies a higher level of accuracy than is warranted

The economic analysis was inadequate and not of a standard required for this type of project

BEAR: Is this a polite way of telling us the numbers are being cooked up fraudulently ? See AFFORDABILITY OF SECOND AIRPORT for another angle on project economics.

Work on airport noise, air quality and health impacts was broadly acceptable, but a number of areas requiring more work or better information were identified.

PPK's community consultation work had failed to build confidence in the EIS process.

Other Audit Deficiencies

While the Government might claim that it fulfilled its election promises by appointment of the auditor, the evidence doesn't stack up. RUST-PPK studies proceeded for nearly 6 months prior to the appointment of a parallel independent environmental auditor. Although the Minister for the Environment announced that he'd appointed the auditor in November 1996, a contract was not signed with SMEC until over 4 months later.

This was a clear breach of election and later promises.

The Senate Select Committee on Aircraft Noise in Sydney recommended

a 'parallel environmental audit procedure should be available during the preparation by the proponent of an EIS for a significant proposal, with the auditor having access to the same data as the proponent

-Falling on Deaf Ears, Executive Summary, page E5 &63, Nov 1995,

The Liberal Party Policy on a Second Major Airport for Sydney in February 1996 stated that

The coalition will ensure that the new EIS on the project will be conducted in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Senate Select Committee on Aircraft Noise in Sydney.

There will be extensive consultation with residents, councils and community groups.

A parallel, and independent, environmental audit procedure will be available during the EIS process with the auditor having access to the same data as the proponent.

(source,"Putting People First - The Coalition's Policy on Sydney Airport and Sydney West Airport", from Dept Of Transport, Internet Web Page http://www.dot.gov.au/aircraft.htm, as at 11/7/96 - now gone missing, but still available at http://www.liberal.org.au/POLICY/AIR/aircraft.htm, as at 22/10/96 - emphasis added by me)

The purpose behind the Senate Committee recommendation is to ensure objectivity and to address concerns that the process might be manipulated to achieve a pre-determined result. The Head of the EPA promised an independent auditor would be appointed at the Meetings for the Draft EIS guidelines in August 1996.

A media release from the Minister for the Environment, Senator Robert Hill, 22/10/96, indicated that an auditor will not be appointed for at least 2 or 3 weeks, and dropped reference to parallel auditing. By the time the auditor was "appointed" in November, most studies of the wildlife had been completed.

How will the community know whether the EIS consultant had conducted field studies with due diligence ? Who checked that they didn't turn a blind eye to significant problems when they were out on the site ? Or that they didn't accidentally miss things due to the rush to complete their studies ? Nobody !

This is a clear breach of the recommendations of the Senate Committee, and a clear breach of an election policy promise.

First published June 1998. Last revised

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