Locals want a second airport at Badgerys Creek WESTERN Sydney has spoken and the message is clear. Its residents want a second international airport and they want it at Badgery's Creek. Smashing a 30 year myth that it was political suicide for federal governments, an exclusive poll commissioned for the Daily Telegraph has revealed overwhelming support for the project across the marginal seats that would surround it. A Galaxy poll of more than 3800 voters across seven marginal Labor seats in western and south west Sydney has revealed an average of 65 per cent support for a second airport. More critical to the debate that has raged since it was first proposed in 1986, was that Badgery's Creek was now the preferred site over Labor's preferred option of Wilton among voters in all seats - the people whom would be most affected by aircraft noise that has been used as the excuse not to build it. David and Corinne Bradley want the airport at Badgerys. The Galaxy Research poll asked 550 voters each in the seat of Lindsay, Werriwa, Banks, Barton, Parramatta, Greenway and Reid whether they supported a second international airport in western Sydney. The highest support was in Reid - 70 per cent - but even in those seats directly bordering it, Lindsay and Werriwa, - support averaged above 60 per cent. While the proposed site would fall in the seat of Macarthur, voters in Lindsay and Werriwa directly neighbouring the site, and where opposition to the site was once most hostile, recorded the highest support for Badgery's Creek. Five times as many voters in these two seats they would prefer it there than Labor's preferred option of Wilton south of Sydney. The results put a lie to the excuse by both sides of politics for three decades that there is no public support for the project. The most recent study, a joint investigation by both the Commonwealth and NSW State government, has not only endorsed Badgery's Creek but said it was now a national economic priority. It also estimated that it would create 9000 jobs in Sydney's west in the short term but up to 50,000 jobs over the decades ahead - in a region which is facing some of the highest unemployment zones of any city on the mainland. Yet both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott both publicly refuse to commit to Badgery's Creek. "The majority of voters across the key marginal seats are in favour of the building of a second airport in Sydney," Galaxy Research CEO David Briggs said. Typically those in favour outnumber those opposed by a factor of three to one or more. Opposition is highest in seats that would be adjacent to the Badgerys Creek site, but even in these seats considerably more voters favour the development of a second airport than are opposed. Across all electorates polled, Badgerys Creek is the preferred site over Wilton. While support for locating the second airport at Wilton is higher in Lindsay (21%) and Werriwa (16%), even in these electorates Badgerys Creek is the more popular location for a second Sydney airport. Badgery's Creek was first endorsed by the Hawke Labor Government in 1986, when it also approved the construction of a third runway for the now congested airport at Mascot. It was finally killed off by John Howard in 2000 over fears that the gains that the Coalition had made against Labor in western Sydney after the 1996 election - primarily the seat of Lindsay - would be lost because of the apparent public antipathy toward it. More recently, however, the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils has reversed its long held opposition to it, as have a collective of NSW unions - who are demanding it be built to provide the future jobs for Sydney. Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has also been a vocal proponent of the airport, suggesting it will be built under a Coalition Government. He recently said: "Badgerys Creek has been foreshadowed for 30 years and the Commonwealth owns the land. There should be no barrier to Badgerys Creek. The suggestion that (an airport at) Badgerys Creek is going to disadvantage western Sydney is just rubbish. If you have a second airport in the Sydney basin there will be a massive financial and employment boost. Liberal candidate for Lindsay Fiona Scott has voiced her opposition to Badgery's Creek as have several Labor MPs in western Sydney seats such as Chifley MP Ed Husic and Lindsay MP, assistant Treasurer David Bradbury.