10/01/2026
Subject: Formal Objection – Sunshine Coast Flight Path “Noise Abatement” Proposals and Inadequate Consultation Process
To: [email protected]
CC: [email protected]
; [email protected]
; Ministerial correspondence (Infrastructure & Transport)
Dear Airservices Australia Community Engagement Team,
I write in my capacity as President of the Noosa Hinterland Residents Association and as a participant in the original flight-path consultation process conducted in 2019–2020 in relation to the Sunshine Coast Airport runway upgrade.
During that process, explicit commitments were made to hinterland communities — including Tinbeerwah, Cooroibah, Cooroy Mountain, Lake Weyba and surrounding rural areas — that any overflight exposure would be minimal and limited to no more than two movements per day. Those assurances were a critical factor in community acceptance of the runway and flight path changes at the time.
It has now come to our attention — not through direct engagement with affected communities, but through secondary channels — that Airservices is proposing changes to morning flight operations under the banner of “noise abatement” that would concentrate jet traffic over the hinterland, the quietest and most environmentally sensitive part of the region.
If this is accurate, the logic is self-evidently perverse.
You are proposing to reduce noise exposure in already noisy coastal urban areas by shifting it into the region’s quietest rural communities, many of which are characterised by:
• low ambient noise floors
• wildlife corridors
• rural and conservation land
• ageing populations
• home-based businesses
• tourism and eco-accommodation
That is not “noise abatement”.
It is noise displacement.
Even more troubling is the way this has been handled procedurally.
The current consultation window — November through 11 January 2026 — is wholly inadequate and, frankly, indefensible:
• It straddles the Christmas–New Year shutdown period
• Many residents are away or disengaged
• Community groups were not formally notified
• No targeted engagement was made with those most affected
• No correspondence was sent to our Association despite our formal role in the original process
This is not meaningful consultation. It is a box-ticking exercise.
From the perspective of the Noosa Hinterland Residents Association, this process fails the basic tests of administrative fairness, transparency and good faith.
We therefore formally request:
An immediate extension of the consultation period to at least 11 February 2026
Direct written notification to all affected hinterland community associations
A clear statement as to whether Airservices intends to breach the original two-movements-per-day commitment
Publication of all noise modelling, track density plots, and morning traffic forecasts being used to justify these proposals
A halt to any implementation of new procedures until proper consultation has been completed
Let me be very clear:
If Airservices proceeds to materially increase overflights of the hinterland without honouring the original agreements or conducting genuine consultation, this will escalate well beyond correspondence. It will involve elected representatives, the media, and formal review processes.
This community did not agree in 2020 to become the noise sink for the Sunshine Coast.
We look forward to your urgent response confirming an extension of the consultation period and outlining how Airservices proposes to correct what is currently a deeply flawed engagement process.
Sincerely,
Rob Neely
President
Noosa Hinterland Residents Association
