Labor says it would support government building Badgerys Creek airport itself

Labor says it will support the Turnbull government if it decides to build the western Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek itself.

Anthony Albanese, the shadow infrastructure spokesman, says construction of the $5bn airport needs to start promptly and, if Sydney Airport Corporation decides not to build it, the commonwealth government could do so.

In a speech to be delivered to the Western Sydney Aerotropolis Summit on Thursday, Albanese will throw Labor’s support behind the government’s desire to have the project start quickly.

The federal urban infrastructure minister, Paul Fletcher, warned in December that the Turnbull government had “no intention” of letting negotiations with Sydney Airport Corporation drag out.

“It has four months, until mid-May, to accept the ­notice of intention,” Fletcher said, according to reports. “If Sydney Airport Group accepts, it will build and ­operate western Sydney airport. If not, the government is prepared to do it.”

Albanese will say, according to speaking notes seen by Guardian Australia, that delivering the Badgerys Creek airport has been needlessly complicated by the former Howard government’s decision to give the Sydney Airport Corporation [SACL] the first right of refusal over construction and operation of the airport.

He said he noted that the government had said in December that SACL had four months to decide whether to exercise its option over the project.

“I urge the government to press on and resolve this matter as soon as possible,” he will say. “If SACL chooses not to exercise its option, Labor would support the government pursuing other options, such as forming a company to build the airport itself.

“That company could later be sold to a private operator.

“This model is similar to that which is being used to deliver the Moorebank intermodal project established by the former Labor government.”

Labor’s offer of support comes after the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, said late last year that it would make sense for the Turnbull government to build the airport itself, before selling it at a later date.

SACL insists it is entitled to nine months to consider the government’s offered terms, rather than the four months Fletcher has offered.

Albanese says policymakers and the public will also need to start thinking about how to service the new airport with fuel.

“There are only two possible ways to get aviation fuel to western Sydney,” he says. “One is by using trucks, which will add to traffic congestion. The other is by building a pipeline.

“This is a serious issue that needs to be confronted now.”