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. 

JET SERVICES have been a possibility at the Airport for several years.  Paul Stoddard proposed to start his own Jet airline, fortunately the plan did not eventuate.  The use of the Airport for 60 and 100-seater jets would make a bad situation worse for residents.