PATRICIA KARVELAS, AFTERNOON BRIEFING: Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Catherine King, is my guest. Minister, welcome to the program.

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, CATHERINE KING: Thanks for having me.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: You say Airservices Australia has committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney’s air traffic controllers from early September, but that’s not tomorrow. How can travellers be sure that they’re safe, given we still have to wait for those changes?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we have a very safe aviation system here in Australia. Obviously, our terrific air traffic controllers play a key part in that. Our civil aviation safety agency, our investigative agencies, all of the workers at airports across the country are part of that.

What we’ve seen is two things happen in Sydney over the course of the weekend. The first is that there was some unexpected leave that occurred, which led to the air traffic controllers having to slow and delay the way in which planes interact at the airport. That obviously had a significant impact on passengers, on staff, on airlines as well, and a flow-on effect across the rest of the system. And so that’s what happened.

We’ve then obviously seen two safety instances. They are both being investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and obviously, whether there were any issues in relation to air traffic control, they’ll look at those as well. But that’s what happened over the weekend. I think that what you’ve seen from Rob Sharp is that everyone’s trying to make sure we’re doing everything to keep the system functioning, but the primary focus of anyone – including the air traffic controllers – our primary purpose is to keep our aviation safe, and they do a very good job of doing that.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Unions are saying staffing levels are a safety issue. Are you sure this is resolved?

CATHERINE KING: I think that staffing issues are incredibly important at air traffic control centres and if there is someone who’s on leave unexpectedly then that does cause pressure within the system. And so that’s what’s occurred. They’ve had a higher amount of unexpected absences over the course of the weekend. And then the depth in rostering just hasn’t been there to be able to increase the amount of staff that are available. And so then what happens is that has a subsequent downflow effect on slowing planes. We’ve all been on planes where you’ve actually heard that the plane’s been slowed down – air traffic control has slowed the arrival down. And that’s what’s happening there, is that the air traffic controllers are putting their hands up and saying we need to just catch up here, we need some time to make sure that our planes are safe and that’s a good thing that they’re doing that, but that obviously has consequences.

What we have been doing and what Airservices have been doing is a very active recruitment campaign. Certainly over the course of the last two years we’ve seen an increased 91 new air traffic controllers, 95 coming on stream this year but this is an incredibly specialist, complex job. Sydney is the hardest of our air traffic control towers as well. The Sydney airspace is the most complex so it does take longer to train someone to go into Sydney. But it is a great career. We’re getting people from overseas, but if you’re in Year 12 and you’re thinking about a career, air traffic control would be a great one for you. You’re going to get a job, I can guarantee you.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: I reckon you will. Chris Minns was on earlier, New South Wales Premier of course. He says there’s concern he has because Sydney’s about to have two airports, and so it’s actually going to be harder to staff. Isn’t that right?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we’ve actually managed the freight opening of Western Sydney Airport really well, and the air traffic controllers, again, have done a great job with that. There’s a lot of contingency in place for passengers to be starting in October as well. But, of course, there is extra strain in the system when you’re adding new and more complex airspace. And with the primary focus trying to make sure everybody is safe at all times, we are being abundantly cautious, and that sometimes has some flow-on effects about slowing things down a little bit and that’s again what you’ve seen a bit over the course of the last month or so. But Premier Minns, I’ve asked Airservices to reach out to Premier Minns’ office to brief them. We’re confident that the work that Airservices is doing, that we will get on top of what’s happening at Sydney Airport quickly. We have seen better performance over the course of the year from Airservices Australia and the air traffic controllers, who have been doing a great job at making sure that people are kept safe and that we keep Sydney Airport operating, and very happy to reach out to Premier Minns if he wishes me to do that as well.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Airservices boss was not able to say when this will be fixed. He says he doesn’t have a date. Don’t we need a date?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I think the issue for us, I think no one can stop unplanned leaves of absence. If someone calls in sick, really, they call in sick and obviously we’re in flu season at the moment. That happens. It happens in any workplace. So we’ve got to have contingencies in place to try and deal with the rostering and all of those sorts of things. And that’s really what Airservices has been working on over the course of the last few weeks. We saw what happened over the course of the weekend was not great, really did inconvenience passengers significantly and inconvenienced the airports and airlines as well, and that’s not great. They’ve taken ownership of that and I’ve taken ownership of trying to make sure that we improve things going forward.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Let’s look at just a couple of other issues in your portfolio. Just on Jetstar, they’re going to be charging their passengers to put carry-on luggage in the overhead lockers. It’s a pretty big change to the budget airline’s carry-on rules. Do you think that’s fair?

CATHERINE KING: Well, look, they make their own decisions and they’ve got to be accountable to the public. They’ve made the claim that in doing so that they’re going to keep fares low. Well, let’s make sure we hold them to account for that. I mean, I think it’s a bit rough, to be frank, having to pay to put your bag up in the locker, but that’s a matter that a private company has made a decision to do. But let’s hold them to account for it. They’ve said that means that they’re going to get people on planes quicker and they’re going to get off on time and that they’re going to have lower airfares. Well, let’s hold them to account for that. That’s what they’ve said they’re doing it for.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: That’s what they’ve said they’re doing it for. But you think it’s rough?

CATHERINE KING: I do think it’s a bit rough. I think most passengers would as well. I think that being asked to charge to bring your carry-on luggage, I think the public reaction to it speaks for itself; it really does.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Just finally, there will be a Royal Commission in Victoria on the Big Build. There’s a lot of contention as you know about the suburban rail link and the commitment there. Has the new Premier reached out to you or the Albanese Government about changing that?

CATHERINE KING: Not at this stage. I think that they’re making their way through their processes. They’ll do that in due course. I think that we’re really proud of the investments we’ve been making with the Labor Government in Victoria, not just in suburban rail, but airport rail. That’s been a really keen focus of myself and now the new Premier as well.

We’re building the new Superhub at Sunshine. That’s a terrific project that’s well and truly started. There’s funding in regional roads. There’s funding in suburban roads. So we’ll continue to make investments and work closely with the Victorian Government and the new Victorian Premier on the priorities for the state. But we’re really proud of the investments that we’re making in the state of Victoria.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: And in terms of that Royal Commission, would you be prepared to front it?

CATHERINE KING: Well certainly, if I’m asked I will do so. I think that a number of the measures we’ve put in place that were not in place before we came into government, of making sure that through the Federated Funding Agreements our co-investment – that there is better reporting in terms of incidents, that we have better accountability and scrutiny and line of sight of some of the issues that have been occurring and building sites across the country. There have been important measures of accountability and transparency. And certainly, if asked, I will, of course appear if I’m requested to do so. But what I would say that there may be, equally, some members of the federal opposition who may also be required to appear because this stuff didn’t start in 2022.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Just finally, I have to ask you about your view on this AI Royal Commission. It’s been announced by the South Australian Premier. Shouldn’t it be a national Royal Commission?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I think what the Premier’s announced, and I’ve only just seen the media coverage of it, is really consistent with the speech the Prime Minister gave and the AI plan.

Basically, what we’re trying to do is two things. You’ve got a policy imperative here about we want to grasp and make sure Australia’s at the forefront of the benefits of AI and that we actually get the benefits of this data that is, in essence, owned by the world and owned by people, and that Australia has every opportunity to benefit from it. But we’re also really conscious that there are some issues around now where data centres are sited, what happens in terms of the energy costs and what happens in terms of water. And so really that’s what we’re trying to do is how do you make sure you’ve got the balance right in making sure that we actually get and capture the benefits here as a country, then that’s in our national interest to do. At the same time we know that there’s community concerns and working our way through those, and so I think what Premier Malinauskas has announced is really consistent already with what the Prime Minister has announced in this space.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: So you welcome it? You think it’s a good idea?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, well, I think that it’ll be interesting to see what it comes out with and to make sure that it’s consistent with the national plan that we’ve already announced.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Thank you so much for joining us.