KARL STEFANOVIC: Well, Australia’s aviation industry is set for a major shake-up this morning with the Federal Government backing a new consumer protection scheme. 

SARAH ABO: For more, we are joined by the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Catherine King. Good morning to you Minister, good to see you. Some desperately needed change in this space. Talk us through what the scheme involves.

CATHERINE KING: So we’re just doing the last round of consultations. We want passengers to have their say about the aviation consumer protection standards that will underpin the scheme. There’ll be a set of standards that all airlines and all airports need to adhere to in terms of making sure you get prompt refunds or prompt rebooking, accommodation, travel and meals if you’ve been substantially delayed and sort of really focusing on trying to make sure in the moment when something’s happening you’ve got a clear idea about what you’re entitled to, underpinned by an ombudsman’s complaint scheme so if you can’t resolve your issue with an airline you’ve got someone you can go to complain and also then a regulator that’s really meant to keep the airlines and the airports accountable. We want to see a lift in standards for the passenger experience. It’s not been great particularly post COVID. It’s getting a bit better but really this is what this scheme is focused on. 

KARL STEFANOVIC: I’d imagine regulating the grey areas of this will be the difficult thing. So what we’re talking about, flight delays, cancellations, lost baggage, this will all be accountable. Can you lay it out for folks? 

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, so the consultation paper has all of that in it, basically. You are looking at the delays, you’re looking at baggage loss, you’re looking at really where you’ve had a really substantial, you know, something happened that is beyond what your expectation as a consumer is, that you know, really that experience. And we often see that people then, when they have had a really significant delay that’s disrupted them, baggage loss, they’ve really found it quite difficult at times to get some form of redress. And this scheme is really laying it out clearly, this is what your rights are, this is how you can enforce those rights, this is what the expectation of airlines and airports is and making that clear in legislation. 

SARAH ABO: And are you talking, Catherine, as well, is it just on Australian soil or are we talking about when Australian airlines travel internationally and you’re caught over there? I mean, when you say substantial delays, you know, we’re not talking about 15, 20-minute delays here, or are we? 

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, you know, like, we know that happens. No, we’re talking about, you know, more substantial delays than that. And, again, that’s sort of part of the consultation is what’s an unreasonable delay, what what level would you expect, you know, that these things happen. The wind, you know, might have been a bit, might have meant that a plane took a bit longer than it should have. But all of those sorts of things are part of the consultation paper. So this is really for Australian passengers, anyone who books on Australian soil, basically. That’s what it’s for. 

KARL STEFANOVIC: What about airlines who continuously do the wrong thing will there be any recourse? Will there be heavy fines for airlines? 

CATHERINE KING: Yes, so the legislation will contain penalties and that’s why we’ve actually got a regulator that is basically going to enforce that and as well as the Ombudsperson basically their job also is to really look at where there’s systemic problems like overbooking of flights that you know might you know, we hear that happens, you know really looking to see whether there’s things that are systemically happening so that’s why we’ve sort of built those three levels three into the scheme and a set of standards that people can expect to have, a complaints mechanism and a regulator to keep airlines and airports to account. 

SARAH ABO: All right, you’ll probably hear from a lot of passengers on that website there on the screen if you do want to have your say. Catherine King, thank you for joining us this morning. Appreciate it. 

KARL STEFANOVIC: She must like looking at complaints.

SARAH ABO: Be a long list, wouldn’t it?

KARL STEFANOVIC: It’s a special kind of person.