Commercial flights don’t start using Western Sydney International Airport until late October.
But freight planes are already landing and taking off regularly, so we interested to know how this may be impacting people who live close to the new airport.
So we asked one of our contacts who lives pretty close to the airport if air traffic so far had any impact on him and other residents.
This is the response we got from them:
“No, not really – I am 1.5km from the runway, if I am awake, I hear them, if I am asleep, they don’t wake me,’’ he told us.
“A few locals are trying to make an issue out of it, but because Luddenham Village is to the side we don’t get much noise.
“People that live at the end of the runways are getting some noise, but the noise mitigation from the Feds will fix that.
“It is good how they are doing a slow start to get people used to the sound.’’
If you live near the new airport and have a different view please get in touch with us.
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Campbelltown Council kicks off mayoral election season next Tuesday, September 1.
It looks almost certain that current Mayor Darcy Lound will secure another two year term unopposed.
Combined with the two Greens councillors, Cr Lound’s side of politics, Labor, has enough votes for a majority in the 15 seat council chamber.
So far there’s not even a single challenger to Cr Loud, and one is unlikely to stand up unannounced on Tuesday night.
However there may be a vote for the deputy mayor’s post, which is for a one year term.
Greens leader Jayden Rivera has ben deputy mayor for the past 12 months.
We hear the popular Councillor Seta Berbari may be a surprise candidate.
With the Labor Party certain to stand a candidate, it could make for an interesting vote for deputy mayor.
And while the Greens are solidly behind Mayor Lound, the same cannot be said for a deputy mayor race.
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It looks like Macarthur Bulls rising star winger Luke Vickery will play international football with Indonesia.
Most people would have guessed that the talented Vickery was destined for Socceroos selection in the next little while.
But that’s all over now, with Vickery (pictured above right) revealing he had been granted Indonesian citizenship during the current off season.
This makes the 20-year-old winger eligible to represent the Indonesian national football team.
Born in Hawaii, Vickery is entitled to Indonesian citizenship through his grandmother, who was born in Medan, a city in Indonesia.
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A solid community of supporters boogied the night away ‘90s-style recently, reliving the iconic music and fashion of the decade while raising money for local youth health charity, Youth Solutions.
Supporters embraced the Rewind to the ‘90s theme at Youth Solutions 2026 annual charity event to raise just over $75,000.
Event coordinator, Youth Solutions’ manager marketing and engagement Amanda Dillon said the night wouldn’t have been such a success without the support of many generous sponsors and donors from the Macarthur and Wingecarribee areas.
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And finally, a personal story, something that came out of the blue. It was an email. This is what it said:
“Dear Eric, I hope you are well. I recently came across your reflection: After almost thirty years as an editor I learned that if you always have the last word … readers go somewhere else.
“It immediately took me back to my work experience with you at the Bankstown Express when I was sixteen in 1987. I have never forgotten that experience. You provided me with my first ever work reference and I kept it for many years.
“The work experience was not only about journalism. It is about judgment.
“I have worked as a Registered Nurse since 1995, become a Justice of the Peace, completed national mediation training, and am now studying law at age 55 (halfway through Juris Doctor program with University of Canberra).
“I measure words carefully. I use fewer absolutes, ask more questions, and have become comfortable leaving things unsaid. Curiously, I suspect that discipline began in a newsroom on Greenfield Parade, Bankstown under an editor who left space for another opinion.
“Thank you for giving a sixteen-year-old his first opportunity in journalism. Looking back over the years of my professional life, I can see that the lessons extended well beyond newspapers.’’
I will leave his name out of it, but to say reading the letter was a most wonderful, heart warming moment would be an understatement.
