Interview with ABC News Breakfast

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Well, Australia’s airlines are well and truly on notice with the Federal Government’s new Aviation White Paper to be released later this morning. The Federal Transport Minister Catherine King has detailed two parts of the plan; more rights for customers as well as for passengers with disabilities. And the Minister joins us now from Canberra. Catherine King, very good morning to you.

CATHERINE KING: Good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Lots of talkback here. Let’s go to passengers. What rights will they have under this proposal?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we know that customers of airlines and airports have really struggled to enforce their rights under the Australian Consumer Law, and really what this does is set up a new independent Ombuds Scheme to establish a Charter of Rights, what the expectations across all airfares are for customers. In particular, the bottom line is if customers aren’t getting the services that they’ve paid for, they should either get a refund or an equivalent service. But what’s been happening for many people is that they’ve struggled to get recompense, struggled to actually get anyone, often hours on phones trying to actually get that, trying to struggle to understand what it is they’re actually entitled to. And the ombuds scheme really allows that independent look, a complaints mechanism, plus sets out really clearly what the expectations are for the conduct of airlines and airports when it comes to customer rights. It will be legislated, it will have enforcement and penalties as part of that legislation as well.

It will start being able to take complaints next year. We’ll put an interim ombudsperson in my department while we go through the process of getting legislation and some consultation on the scheme, but we really want this to start as soon as possible, because we’ve heard loudly and clearly that the experience of people on– at our airports and on our airlines hasn’t been what it should be or what they’ve paid for.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: How quickly can we see refunds paid to disaffected passengers under this scheme, if it’s up and running?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we certainly need to get it legislated first, but we will start the scheme immediately. We’ve got an interim person who will start developing that charter of customer rights in aviation immediately, and we’ll get the scheme up and running next year.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Okay. But how quickly can passengers– as you say, the current scheme and I hear you, it is not great in terms of passengers getting their money back. How quickly can they get their money back if and when this scheme is up and running?

CATHERINE KING: Well, our view is that it should be pretty much immediate. And in terms of when– if someone has not got the service that they have paid for, then that refund should be immediate and that will be part of developing the legislation for the Ombuds Scheme, what the timeframes are. I think that the battle that people have had to go through, particularly post-COVID, to get the service that they have paid for, has been really frustrating for many people. And often people just give up and say: we’ll write off the money. And it’s often, you know, a lot of money and it’s really difficult for people. So, this is really– we’ve got equivalent schemes in the telecommunications space. We expect this scheme to be up and running as soon as we possibly can. It’s also focused on continuous improvement of the airlines and our airports in that service delivery.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Okay. What about delays? I think in Europe there’s a scheme that if your flight is delayed for three hours or more, you get compensated – and compensated quite hardly. Will a similar situation work here?

CATHERINE KING: Well, certainly in terms of the Charter of Rights, the ombudsman can recommend that – they’ll be independent of government – that may be something to look at. It’s not something that we’ve brought in initially, but certainly that may be one of the things the ombudsman recommends that if there is an unreasonable delay– and obviously, you know, I was delayed last night out of Melbourne because of the weather. No one can help that.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Yeah. I mean, that’s reasonable.

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Why won’t you legislate it though?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, that may well be part of the Charter of Rights that the ombudsperson suggests that is part of the scheme. There’s a consultation paper coming out today which will look at what is reasonable, what can– should customers reasonably expect, and really lifting that standard so that airlines and airports are actually deliver the service that people pay for.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Okay. Are you looking at the concentration of Australia’s aviation market as part of this?

CATHERINE KING: Well, certainly we announced earlier this year really significant- the most significant reforms to the way in which Sydney Airport slots are managed– and it’s a constrained demand managed airport and the way that interacts with aviation as a whole. That and the coming on board of Western Sydney International Airport will be a game changer for aviation in the country. Sydney, obviously, is the busiest and biggest of our airports, followed by obviously Melbourne and Brisbane. And what we’ve tried to do with slots reform is really open up the way in which slots are allocated. Much more transparency. We’ve put out to competitive tender the person who manages or the company that manages the slots, as well as introducing recovery hours and things like that. So all of that work is already underway. Obviously, we do want to see more competition. We’re conscious though, that this you know, we are a small market. And really, my job as the regulator of aviation and of airports is to try and make sure we get the best possible deal we can for the Australian consumer.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Okay. This Aviation White Paper also looks at improving the plight of passengers with disability. How does it go about doing that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, we’ve heard loud and clear from people with disabilities that their experience on our airlines and at our airports has not been what it should be. People with disabilities should be able to travel anywhere that they want to. But what we’ve seen, obviously, is a range of things happening. People reporting that they’ve had wheelchairs damaged and not being able to get full compensation for those. We’ve seen people who are stranded actually on the actual airplane because there’s not been ramps to get them off the plane safely, and they’ve not been able to complete their journey. So really, what this is introducing is a new standard for airports and airlines, a disability standard that they will be required to comply with in terms of the passenger journey.

We’re also allowing, if people want to do that, airports and airlines to have passenger profiles so you’re not constantly reporting that I have a service dog and this is what I need to be able to have a good passenger journey throughout an airport or an airline. So, enabling that, to be able to do that once, and airlines and airports to be able to retain that, as well as being able to encourage airlines and airports to actually have facilitated journeys for people. Airports and airlines, you know, they are busy places, particularly if you may– you may not have a visible disability, you may have other disabilities that really mean you’re quite overwhelmed in those experiences. So really encouraging airports when they’re developing and when they’re building to create and think about the passenger journey from people with a disability’s perspective as well.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Catherine King, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

CATHERINE KING: Very good to be with you, Michael.