Meanwhile the Sunshine Coast airport at Maroochydore, an hour-and-a-bit north of Brisbane, is getting a new longer and wider runway capable of servicing international flights with an eye to the Asian market. The Gold Coast airport an hour-and-a-half south of Brisbane already does that. Brisbane itself is building a second runway, getting in well ahead of any capacity restraints. And there is no curfew. So four international airports, two without curfew, five runways in an area about the same as greater Sydney but with a substantially smaller population. Talk to the people who run or will run these airports and they have no particular problem with the competition they provide for each other. Instead, they tend to stress what they do for their local markets - the growth, employment and opportunities that flow from efficient transport infrastructure. By comparison, the arrogance and contempt for the population repeatedly shown by the Macquarie/Sydney Airport Corporation gang is astounding. The combination of NSW government ineptitude and Sydney Airport greed means the Wagners can build an entire airport faster than Sydney can sort out the disaster of its immediate approach roads.

The people of western Sydney now understand the benefits of having their own airport better than their premier or several prime ministers. (Did anything better sum up the pathetic nature of the two candidates in the last election than watching Rudd and Abbott prevaricate and sidestep over the Badgerys question?) The local councils that once opposed the idea of tarmac in their backyard have grown up and want it. The people close to the ground are already seeing some impact from the decision the federal government is crawling towards and that the state government is denying – a bloke who lives in a suburb adjoining Badgerys tells me the value of his house has gone up by $100,000 since the talk resumed. With the airport comes jobs for the region with the city's highest unemployment rate. And the employment growth extends much further than that. The real driver of international tourism growth isn't the opportunity for a relatively few Chinese high rollers to give James Packer money – it's the hordes the new generation of low-cost carriers (LCCs) bring in. And LCCs gravitate to areas with airport competition that in turn means reasonable charges.

Marvellous how James Packer can get a casino licence almost overnight on a tourism story while a necessary piece of infrastructure of massive benefit to the whole community remains somewhere out in the far, far distance. The government that fast-tracked Packer's desire for a casino continues to claim there will be no second airport in the Sydney basin. Sydney Airport revels in its monopoly, gouging passengers and airlines alike while paying no tax. It will continue to reap excessive economic rent for decades. Chairman Max "shit happens" Moore-Wilton is right to scoff at those who think that, even if Badgerys is given the nod today, concrete will be poured any time soon. There are many years of environmental, transport, economic and community reports ahead, plus more than a little engineering planning to be done. In the meantime, south-east Queensland will continue to attract more jobs with its greater commitment to infrastructure planning. NSW's interstate net migration loss will continue as economic refugees as well as retirees travel north. It's not just the better rugby teams that attract them.

One of the great mysteries in airport circles at present is how John Wagner managed to get the Royal Australian Air Force to surrender some of its exclusive airspace around Oakey. Aviation types reckon that just doesn't happen – overcoming the inertia and possessiveness of the Defence Department monolith is the work of super heroes. Hmmm, wonder if John Wagner could be made interested in building a second Sydney Airport? Disclosure: the Pascoe family super fund holds Sydney Airport securities – if you can't beat 'em, profit from 'em. Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor.