increasingly emphasises that the rapidly growing demand
for mobility cannot be met in a sustainable way. As Graham
and Guyer (1999, p. 179) have summarised the matter,
air transport policy generally fails to address both the integrated
nature of transport itself and the broader concerns
of society.
Some community groups in the ACT region are also
proposing broader frameworks for considering aviation
and airports than mere demand driven ones, and support
the need for a broad-based evaluative research study of
Canberra airport taking into account economic, social,
environmental and planning factors (May, 2002). This is in
contrast to the narrowly deWned economic impact studies
of the airport undertaken by ACIL Consulting (Canberra
International Airport, 2001b, p. 10; 2003b). In addition,
community groups, both in submissions to politicians and
in newspaper articles (Willans, 2001, 2002) have questioned
the range of subsidies that Canberra International Airport
has received. As interviewee “K” stated:
The aviation industry is a mature industry, it’s been going
on now since the second world war, it’s had considerable
strength in the country; and there has to be the question:
why does it have to be subsidised? It’s not a new and starting
industry, if it can’t stand on its own two feet now, then
we should get out of the business.
Investments in more diversiWed local economic development
of regions may be one way of reducing the growing
demands of air traYc. This issue was raised in suggestions
by interviewees about the need for alternative conceptions
of the economy. Where mobility needs must be met, modal
change, especially to high-speed rail, is regarded as a sensible
option for short-range traYc, for both economic and
environmental reasons