DANIEL MULINO: Hi, my name’s Daniel Mulino, I’m the Federal Member for Fraser, the electorate which immediately abuts Melbourne Airport. Many of the people that work at this airport live in my electorate, but of course many of the people that travel through Melbourne Airport also live in my electorate and it is wonderful to be here today with Catherine King the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport for her to make an important announcement in relation to consumer protections. In addition to being the local member for this area abutting this airport, in the previous term I was the chair of Economics Committee which undertook an extensive investigation into competition and economic dynamism and we heard from a range of stakeholders and also individual travellers about their desire to see stronger protections for consumers who experience flight delays and cancellations. And so I’m really pleased to be here today for this very important pro-consumer announcement. And with that I’ll hand over to the Minister, Catherine.        

CATHERINE KING MP: Thanks very much Daniel and it’s terrific to be here in my home state, but of course at Melbourne Airport where you can see there are lots of people travelling to see family and to travel for work. And today, we’re releasing the final consultation on Australian-first National Aviation Consumer Protection Scheme. The scheme is underpinned by a set of national standards that airlines and airports must adhere to and we are seeking consultation and passengers’ views on those. It is also underpinned by a regulator that will hold airlines and airports to account, and an ombudsman who also provides an opportunity, where a passenger hasn’t been able to get an issue resolved, it might be a bit more complicated, or they just can’t get an outcome and that frustration of not being able to get an outcome, being able to actually to refer for the first time to an aviation ombudsman to be able to actually get that resolution.  

We know that when people travel it’s a great thing. Australians are terrific travellers, we love to travel everywhere and have that opportunity. But we want to make sure that experience is the best it possibly can be, and holding the airlines and airports to account if your flight is delayed and you can’t get a booking to book on another flight quickly that you actually get a prompt refund so you can make a decision about what you do next. If your baggage goes missing, actually getting a proper recompense or redress for that baggage going missing, if it never ever turns up or it has created a significant problem for you as you’re trying to actually go with onward travel. As well as making sure that airlines do look after you. That you have accommodation, transport, meals looked after in the event of such a delay. So it’s out for consultation now at infrastructure.gov.au/have your say.     

We’re really encouraging the traveling public to come on and have your say about what you think those standards should be, what you expect from your airlines and your airports when you travel and you’ve had an outcome that is not satisfactory. We're really focusing in this scheme on trying to get an immediate answer when you're in those circumstances that the delay has occurred. And this scheme again, first for the country, is part of the government's Aviation White Paper, which we announced some time ago now, we’re getting on with the business and now delivering the consumer protections. I'm really happy to take questions. 

JOURNALIST: How do you define what is delayed? What is the time period you’re looking at?

CATHERINE KING MP: Yeah, again, that is part of the consultation, and obviously there are delays that might occur that are only 15 or 20 minutes. It's a delay that causes significant inconvenience, and that definition will be within the legislation, but the Paper, at the moment, defines that as a significant delay that could be up to two hours. But again, we're seeking consultation about that. That could be something if you're a business traveller, for example, even a 15 to 20 minute delay might be something that really means that you miss a meeting. They're the sorts of things that we're seeking consultation about in the Paper at the moment.

JOURNALIST: Minister King, was it acceptable that Qantas’ board decided not to cut CEO Vanessa Hudson's $2 million bonus for her direction of what Justice Lee called an aggressive litigation strategy to deny any baggage claim workers compensation?

CATHERINE KING MP: Well, again, these are, you know, this is a decision of a private company and a board. Again, as we know it's well canvassed that Qantas did illegally outsource a substantial part of its workforce, we were in opposition at the time. I stood beside baggage handlers. I stood beside Dnata workers during COVID to actually say that we want fair, same job, same pay, fair conditions for workers. We need an aviation industry that works for everyone. And I think Qantas has paid the penalty for that through the court system, matters in terms of CEO recompense are a matter for the board, and they need to stand by those decisions. 

JOURNALIST: Is there any thought given to this scheme? Is there any thought given to cash compensation like there is in the EU? 

CATHERINE KING MP: Yeah. So what we had to balance really here with this scheme. And again, this is the first scheme for Australia of having an Australian Aviation Consumer Protection Scheme, was the balance of making sure that you've got some immediate redress, basically being able to point to, here is what I can expect of my airline and of my airport when this happens, having a set of standards that the airline and the airports must comply with, and a way of dealing with complaints, versus the possibility, if you have a scheme that is large and a compensatory scheme that that can add to ticket prices. In Europe, for example, you've got millions more passengers than we do. You've got lots more airlines as well, and that's distributed across all of those tickets. We've got a much more concentrated market here, so we've weighed up what that means in our setting to make sure ticket prices continue to be affordable at the same time as you get that immediate redress. We haven't ruled out doing that if this doesn't work, this is about trying to lift the standards for passengers right the way across aviation, but we think we've got the balance right for the scheme that suits Australian conditions. 

JOURNALIST: And just to clarify, this affects Australian domestic travel? 

CATHERINE KING MP: It captures international airlines as well. It captures those, if you’ve had a booking here, and again, that's one of the things that we're going out for a consultation with in the actual Paper.

JOURNALIST: Once the consultation period’s over, when could this [inaudible] 

CATHERINE KING MP: Well, as soon as, we are wanting to get this in as soon as possible, obviously we've only got a limited number of sitting days left before the end of the year. Consultation period goes for four weeks, I think until October five. We’ll then work through all of those and then try and legislate as soon as possible after the consultation period. 

JOURNALIST: What's the what's the government's take on Senator Price's comments last week in regard to bolstering the Labor vote through Indian immigration and the current fallout that Alex Hawke has called for Senator Price to apologise.

CATHERINE KING MP: Look I’ll leave all of the internal Liberal Party things to them, and that's a matter for them to deal with. I think that we don't run a race based immigration system. And I think it is fair to say that Jacinta Price’s comments were pretty, you know the Indian community in particular, was really offended by them. I think she should apologise, but that's a matter entirely for her. We're focused as a government on making sure we run an immigration system that really is in the interests of the country, and it's not a race based one. I think her comments were really unfortunate, and I think any of the Indian community have been pretty rightly upset about them. 

JOURNALIST: It's been more than a year since construction industry lawlessness has been exposed. It's still happening, and it's happening, it seems on projects you've been funding at Badgerys Creek airport and then North East Link in Melbourne. Why is your response so far not working? And what are you going to do about it? 

CATHERINE KING MP: Well, this is an endemic culture, it would appear, within the building sector. This government has taken unprecedented action by putting the CFMEU into administration. Many of these issues are coming to light because of that administration, again, really important that that is supported and continues. But let's be really clear on any workplace, we have zero tolerance for criminal behaviour and criminal activity. This is pretty shocking to hear again. You know, this is an allegation about a building company or a subcontractor to a building company. Criminal activity doesn't occur in a vacuum. We are working really hard as a government, through the administration, to ensure that we get criminal activity out of that element. The industry also has a really significant role to play here. It's why Amanda Rishworth, Minister Rishworth and I have the National Construction Industry Forum that brings unions, brings industry together, trying to really change the culture of the construction industry overall. When it comes to Western Sydney Airport, I again will write to the Western Sydney Airport Authority to seek assurances that through all of their procurement processes and contracting processes and their audit and risk processes, they are keeping on top of these issues. It's really important that we have those assurances, particularly when we're dealing with such large scale taxpayer dollars as used at projects like Western Sydney.

JOURNALIST: The report today that the federal government is looking at making more cash available for the Suburban Rail Loop than the $2.2 billion. Any confirmation of that? 

CATHERINE KING MP: Well, there's a budget, and that budget is next year. States bring forward requests to that budget process. I'm sure the Victorian Government will continue to bring a range of projects, including the Suburban Rail Loop forward, but our budget is next year, and I'll take those through those budget processes and that consideration, as I do with every request from state and territory governments. We've released not too long ago, the $2.2 billion for Suburban Rail Loop. And we'll continue to continue to assess requests that come through the budget process next year. 

JOURNALIST: Just back to the aviation compensation scheme, airlines are largely back to running on time since the pandemic, given this proposal doesn't mandate monetary compensation, unlike similar schemes in the US or EU. Is this move too little too late?

CATHERINE KING MP: Well, I'm really pleased to say, and I say post COVID, I think that passenger’s experience on the airlines wasn't great, and there are a range of reasons for that. We worked really hard on things like slot reforms out of a Sydney Airport. One of the issues we have in an integrated network is that when Sydney goes down, the rest of the network goes down as well. And because you've got a cap and curfew system out of Sydney, it's actually really hard to catch up. So again, this government, the first time, I think, in over 27 years, we've legislated significant changes to the slot system out of Sydney Airport, including a recovery period that allows the airport and airlines to actually catch up in the event of adverse weather. So I'm pleased that we are starting to see on time improvement for our airlines. But if you're telling me, the airlines think every passenger and every passenger experience is perfect, I think you just have to talk to people and you’d know that's not the case. And we really want to make sure that passengers know what the standards are, know how to get redress for when the standards are not kept and keep airlines and airports accountable with the regulator and the ombudsman scheme.

JOURNALIST: Just on the construction issue, why won't you hold a National Inquiry?

CATHERINE KING MP: Well, I think that there have been significant inquiries. What I am interested in is, how do we actually change this? What do we do to change this? It's why the government has taken unprecedented action by putting the CFMEU into administration, that administration has meant that they do not have access to union funds to be able to continue some of the activities they were engaged in. That's the strongest action we possibly could have taken, and we've done that. Again, pulling together industry, unions and the government to actually try and get a culture change and things like, I want to see more women in this industry. There are a whole range of barriers to that occurring, including sometimes the culture on building sites. We're working really hard to try and change that. But this doesn't happen in a vacuum, and it is the responsibility of industry, unions and governments together to really change this.

JOURNALIST: Minister, we heard from victims all over the country with our driving instructor investigation that came out last week. More than 300 people told us that they had been harassed or sexually assaulted by their driving instructors. What will you do to lead a national response to this issue?

CATHERINE KING MP: So what I'd say is, you know a young person going for their license shouldn't be subjected to harassment or assault in any form. And this is incredibly, incredibly saddening to hear that these stories that this is a case, no one should be harassed anywhere. This is not acceptable behaviour, and in some instances it is actually criminal behaviour. It is certainly a significant breach of the duty of care of driving instructors for this to occur. What I have done, because of course states and territories certify driving instructors and have the capacity and the levers and control over actually putting in place some systems to try and change this. What I have done is written to every state and territory Minister to ask if there is more that can be done to try and make sure our young people are safe when they are undertaking what should be something that is, you know, passage into adulthood, getting your driving license and being able to actually do that in a safe way. What I would say it is also really important that people report these, that is that you must report if you've had something occur. Often, we know that people engage in these sort of predatory behaviours in a whole range of settings. So report it. If you're not comfortable reporting it to the police, then make sure you absolutely take it up with the company who the driving instructor is employed by. There might be some issues in relation to their employment that the licenser might want to actually look at as well. Really important that we try and stamp this out. And I think the national peak body has a responsibility of making sure that education for their businesses also occurs. 

JOURNALIST: And just on what you’ve written to the states, have you set them a deadline to respond to you? 

CATHERINE KING MP: I haven't set a deadline. I normally write to the states and ask them for their response, and that's normal courtesy to colleagues, being able to respond when they've had time to investigate and look into those issues. 

JOURNALIST: And do you think that this is something that you’ll discuss at your final Transport Ministers meeting for 2025? 

CATHERINE KING MP: Certainly there are always a range of issues that are discussed at transport ministers meetings. At the last meeting, for example, we put on the issue, one of the issues that was running fairly heavily across the media, but also that state ministers were talking about, was about the safety of E bikes and E scooters. There's a range of issues we always talk about, both in the formal meeting and then as colleagues together. Thank you.