Federal Transport Minister Albanese has once more raised the issue of a second Sydney airport - while spelling out some non-negotiables.
There's already a joint Federal and State government study into the issue underway, but Albanese obviously felt it important to clarify what is and what is not on the table.
The report from that study is due later this year, but it won't be the best possible result because the committee is constrained from canvassing all possible options.
It can't, for example, decide that there's no need for a second Sydney airport, because the Minister doesn't want to hear that.
It also can't recommend more efficient use of the existing airport, because the Minister has said that, "On my watch, there will be no shift in the curfew or the cap on movements at Sydney Airport".
And it also can't bring Bankstown Airport into the equation as part of a solution, because the Minister has been loudly unequivocal about that airport remaining RPT free.
Despite those constraints, the Minister said this week that, "One of the things that we've done is make sure that we remove the politics from this. In the past it has suffered becaue politics has interfered with good policy making. That's why when we established the committee it was independent of government, at arm's length. There are no politicians on this committee."
Minister Albanese also insisted, at the same doorstop interview, that the study committee has been given "very wide terms of reference".
And, "The committee is examining all of the options. I'm letting them do their work without ruling things in or out. The Government has a position of not proceeding with Badgerys Creek, but otherwise the committee's been allowed to do its work."
On another front, one might hope that such a wide-ranging study would factor in the high-speed rail concept, for which a separate preliminary study is also underway. After all, the location of a second Sydney airport might have implications for such a rail project.
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