Media conference, Parliament House Canberra

CATHERINE KING:.. I just wanted to provide you with an update on Rex Airlines as well. As you’d be aware, my department’s been engaging closely with the Rex administrators since the process began, and we made obviously the announcement on 15 August of a guarantee of regional flight bookings. Today, I am also directing the slot manager at Sydney Airport to suspend the application of the use-it-or-lose-it test on Rex regional New South Wales slot holdings for the current and upcoming scheduling season. This will protect Rex’s New South Wales regional slots at Sydney Airport until late March 2026. As the administration process continues, the Government, of course, remains absolutely committed to supporting our regional communities to ensure that they stay connected to our major capital city destinations, and I’ll provide any further updates as they come to hand.

But of course, today is the announcement of the white paper. It’s one of the most significant packages of reforms to aviation in over a decade. The Aviation White Paper contains some 56 different policies to improve consumer rights, to boost competition, to reduce emissions, to grow skills in the aviation sector, and to make the aviation sector more responsible to the communities it serves. The Government is establishing an independent ombudsman scheme and a Charter of Customer Rights, outlining the fair and appropriate treatment of customers and what airlines must do in the event flights are cancelled or delayed. It will also deliver a fairer deal for travellers who have a disability, creating new aviation-specific disability standards and reviewing industry compliance with those new standards, as well as requiring airlines and airports to coordinate their actions assisting people with a disability over their passenger journey.

Change is already underway to reform Sydney’s airport. Slot management arrangements are an important step in enhancing competition, and the opening of Western Sydney International Airport in 2026 will be a genuine game-changer for access to the Sydney basin. We have a competitive tender out right now to select the slot manager, and we are drafting legislation that will take forward the other reforms that have been announced.

Airlines, in particular, will be subject to a show-cause requirement in relation to why flights are delayed or cancelled, and we will also increase the transparency of airline performance, with more data on performance and competition to be published by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.

We have heard the concerns of communities near airports and we will be making the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman independent of Airservices Australia and improving engagements with communities around our airports. The newly independent Aircraft Noise Ombudsman’s role will have the power to conduct independent investigations into the handling of aircraft noise complaints, publish reports, and make recommendations directly to government.

We will be giving a better deal to workers not only through our recent industrial relations legislation, but also through a new gender equity charter that we encourage all industry participants to play a role in designing and improving the skills pipeline. We want to see more women in all sectors of aviation.

Reducing emissions will also require concerted effort. We’re already investigating the domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel and other low carbon liquid fuels, with measures to support the development of this market.

The 2024 White Paper is the result of months of detailed consultations. There were over 2096 submissions, 22 roundtables, and I want to thank everybody who took part and participated in that, and I particularly acknowledge the work of my department undertaking all of that. These reforms will support a fairer, more sustainable and more competitive future for aviation. And I am, of course, very happy to take questions. Hello…

JOURNALIST: Minister, a lot of airline passengers would love the idea of a European-style system, where they are paid a refund when planes don’t take off as they were promised. But do you think that the size of the aviation industry in Australia can actually sustain that? Or would those penalties drive airlines broke?

CATHERINE KING: So, what we’ve done is developed the ombudsman scheme, and there’s a consultation paper that’s going out on that today as we speak here. That really allows a complaints mechanism, for the first time, that is specifically focused on airlines and airports as well. And what that will allow is for people to be able to directly put in complaints to that ombudsperson, as well as seek remedies that will be legislated as part of that scheme. It may well be that compensation be one of the remedies that the ombudsperson recommends, and that may be part of the remedies and that– so we haven’t ruled out that that’s the case. But what we think is that this provides a better opportunity for continuous improvement. And what we all want to see is, in fact, that customers get what they pay for. You’ve bought a ticket. If the flight doesn’t go or the flight doesn’t go when you expect it to go, you should expect that that’s the service that is provided. And so really, this is about providing remedies to consumers who have found it very difficult to pursue these issues, and also getting continuous improvement in our airlines and our airports.

JOURNALIST: Minister…

CATHERINE KING: Yes.

JOURNALIST: …if consumers don’t get what they pay, for example, they might be booked on a 9 o’clock flight and it leaves at 11.30, are those the circumstances in which you think there would be a cash refund?

CATHERINE KING: Again, that will be a matter for the ombudsman scheme to look at. But instituting a Charter of Rights, what the expectations are and expectations that consumers can have of their airlines and their airports is part of what the ombudsman will do– ombudsperson will do, as well as looking at the remedies that are part of that.

JOURNALIST: But I’m just– you say that the customers have the right to get what they pay for.

CATHERINE KING: Yes.

JOURNALIST: Let me just drill down on that. What do you think customers pay for when you have thousands upon thousands of people who are inconvenienced through– every week at Australian airports because their flight is cancelled or delayed [indistinct]?

CATHERINE KING: Which is exactly why we’ve asked, first, airlines to be much more transparent and show cause– what is the cause of delays. Now, obviously, there are causes that are beyond their control. So last night, I was delayed getting out of Melbourne because there was a significant weather event. But if it is because there has been overbooking or there is something that has occurred that is not in the usual– not reasonable, then it will be up to airlines to explain that, but also where consumers are seeking a refund, seeking compensation or seeking a credit or a flight, that actually does provide them that opportunity. This ombudsman scheme will provide opportunities for that to occur. But building in the Charter of Rights, making it really clear that if you book a ticket, and that’s the service you expect, that there are remedies for people in relation to that if that’s not what they receive.

Yes, at the back.

JOURNALIST: You could have pulled a lot more levers here, pulled out a much bigger stick in terms of what’s been talked about. Were the conversations with Qantas and Virgin– did they say to you that this would be very damaging if you went down and pulled out a bigger stick and set much more requirements [indistinct]?

CATHERINE KING: I haven’t had conversations with Qantas and Virgin about that. They may have views that they have expressed through the submission process of the Aviation White Paper. But what I would say is one of the considerations, of course, that I had to take into account is whether airlines would risk factor in– and you know, potentially, risk factor in that could lead to higher airfares. I’ve obviously had to have a look at that, and that’s one of the factors I’ve brought into consideration. But the ombudsperson will have the opportunity to say whether compensation should be paid if there’s been an unreasonable breach in terms of the consumer law.

JOURNALIST: And what about regulatory authorities for misuse or non-compliance by airlines and airports? And will Airservices also be subject to similar penalties for the delays that they are responsible for?

CATHERINE KING: Sure. Well, certainly, in terms of delays, that might be because of air traffic controllers. As you’re aware, we have a shortage of staff in terms of air traffic controllers because a number of them took redundancies during the COVID years as well, and we want to see more people back into this sector. That certainly, in terms of show-cause, that will be one of the causes that needs to be put out into the public domain.

JOURNALIST: Minister, just with the…

CATHERINE KING: Yes.

JOURNALIST: …shortage on air traffic controllers, what can the Government do about that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we’ve got a number of initiatives that are part of the white paper about recruiting across the aviation sector. It’s not just air traffic controllers. We need more pilots. We need more cabin crew. We need more people who are involved in the services sector, both customer service and all of the underwing services as well. Our changes to industrial relations laws do make it a much more attractive industry to be part of. But certainly, one of the things that we are doing through Jobs and Skills Australia is looking at those specific measures to bring in air traffic controllers, make sure that young people who are looking for careers see this as a viable option, as well as improvements to Airservices Australia as well.

Yes, of course. Tom.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you mentioned the legislative draft on the Sydney Airport reforms.

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: Would you hope to have them passed in this term of Parliament? And when should Melbourne Airport expect a decision on the third runway?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, so the decision on Melbourne Airport is before me at the moment, so I really can’t make any commentary about that as a decision maker. But equally, in terms of the slot reform legislation, that is being drafted currently, and we would expect it to be before the Parliament shortly.

JOURNALIST: There’s more data on aircraft noise complaints, a new ombudsman to complain to and a request that pilots fly considerately. But can you explain what difference that would make to people living under or near flight paths, in terms of the amount of aircraft noise?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I think it would be fair to say that the way in which, in particular Airservices Australia– it hasn’t been, pardon the pun, but on its radar in terms of aircraft noise being the predominant issue that needs to be looked at in terms of flight paths. It is obviously one of the issues, safety being the first. And so, having an independent ombudsman or ombudsperson allows the opportunity for people to have confidence that it is not the same people who develop the flight paths– who’ve actually been part of developing the flight paths, that is also investigating complaints about flight paths. So separating that out, I think, provides people who are under flight paths – who are experiencing aircraft noise, an independent process to be able to look that– to have that complaint handled and to be treated seriously by Airservices and CASA as well.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the White Paper identifies that airlines need to lift the game for consumers. In the interests of competition, will the government reconsider its decision to block Qatar’s request to double its [indistinct] …

CATHERINE KING: Well, can I say in terms of bilateral air services, what the White Paper does is it outlines a range of factors. Again, in these bilateral country to country agreements that are under consideration, I was really pleased to be able to see and to make the decision to increase flights for Türkiye airlines. That has been an absolute game changer again for flights into Europe, but also for people of Turkish descent, particularly in Melbourne, being able to have that airline as an option. Vietnam, our focus on South East Asia, has also been important. The increase in availability for Vietnam Airlines– we’ll be making an announcement tomorrow out at Western Sydney International Airport, which again will be a game changer when it comes to competition.

We want to keep ahead of capacity. There are a number of airlines that I would like to see who have already granted rights. I’d like to see those airlines are bringing their capacity back into the country as well. And I’ve got a number of countries, including Qatar, that are before me at the moment, and we’ll consider those through the usual way.

JOURNALIST: Minister, realistically, when will these changes come into place?

CATHERINE KING: So, this is a plan, obviously, for the next 20 years of aviation. If you look at the last White Paper, I think there were 100 initiatives. And I think the last one of those, the one sky, one combined aviation space between defence and civil, that is still underway currently today. These– obviously there are a number of these that will take time. But in terms of the consumer rights and disability rights, these are particularly things that have exercised my mind as I’ve been developing the White Paper. I will put an interim ombudsperson in my department in the immediate term to start drafting the Charter of Rights. That will happen in the next day or so. We will see– they will be able to receive complaints as of next year, and will introduce legislation next year. There’s a consultation paper out, and I look forward to people contributing to the consultation paper about what the Charter of Rights should look like, what are the reasonable penalties, how do you enforce those – all of those issues as we work through the consultation process.

JOURNALIST: But realistically, if you don’t win the next election, are these at risk?

CATHERINE KING: Well, my view is, frankly, this is a really good reform. It is a good reform for consumers. We’ve heard loudly and clearly that people are not getting the experience that they are paying for or expect to get from our airlines or our airports, and these reforms will significantly change that. Putting in place an interim measure to put someone in the department immediately – starting that drafting of the Charter of Rights – all of those are good measures, and I’m sure at the next election, if someone wants to change and withdraw those rights, then that will be a matter of contest and debate for all of us.

JOURNALIST: Minister, can I just– sorry– clarify just on the consumer rights?

CATHERINE KING: Yes. Of course.

JOURNALIST: Do you mind just walking us through what would happen? So if you miss your flight, you put a complaint to the ombudsman. Can you just walk us through what that …?

CATHERINE KING: [Talks over] So the consultation paper will take you through all of that. So that process needs to be worked through. But in essence, what we’re saying is that people have rights under current consumer law, under the Australian Consumer Law, in terms of a refund. But if you’ve ever tried to do that yourself, it’s hard to get hold of– who do you call? How do you find out? Most people don’t really read the contract or terms of condition of the actual flight and there’s multiple different flights. So, have you booked a flexi flight? Have you booked a flight that doesn’t allow you to get a refund? Most people don’t read those terms and conditions and are not aware of those rights. So really what the ombudsperson scheme does, or the ombuds scheme does, is actually ensure that those rights are enshrined through the charter. You’ve got an independent, single way to go and actually complain when you’re wanting to enforce those rights rather than trying to chase down the airline or the airport. If you’ve had– that’s the experience you’ve had, it’s been because of that– really chased that down. But the consultation process will really define and spell those out, including things like enforcement and penalties as well.

JOURNALIST: And when will that consultation …

CATHERINE KING: [Interrupts] It’s released today. The paper’s released today at the same time as we’re releasing the White Paper.

JOURNALIST: Minister …

CATHERINE KING: Yes, of course.

JOURNALIST: … how do you enforce incident– how do you enforce rules on international airlines? What does that look like?

CATHERINE KING: Again, that will be part of the consultation paper. And if you have a view as an individual, I’d encourage you to submit as part of that consultation.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the Department of Finance is reviewing the whole of government travel this year, the White Paper says. Should that extend to travel credits for politicians and staffers accrued as part of their work?

CATHERINE KING: It’s– that’s a matter for Finance. I’m not across the work that they’re doing. Obviously, the White Paper says one of the things that has been certainly raised with us is the spread of where public sector and travel is, trying to make sure that that’s spread a little further across airlines so that we can make sure that the benefits of that taxpayer funded flights, whether it’s politicians or public servants, is spread across airlines. And that we also– obviously, we have to look at value for money when we’re spending taxpayer money on that. Yeah, thank you.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the Budget– sorry, the White Paper spells out the funding allocated in the Budget towards going to developing a sustainable aviation fuel industry.

CATHERINE KING: Yes, yeah.

JOURNALIST: But there are many in the industry who say that this funding is not enough and that Australia has missed the ability to be a producer of SAF rather than just a user. What do you say to that?

CATHERINE KING: I say that this government is doing a huge amount in the low carbon liquid fuels. It’s obviously sustainable aviation fuel we’re looking at in terms of aviation, but also renewable diesel and what it means for heavy transport. So, we’ve made– over $1.7 billion is available in innovation, so that sits with ARENA. So really looking at that, looking at what innovations there might be in feedstock, and as I’ve said repeatedly in the Parliament, the fact that we export so much of our canola to Europe to produce biofuels and then have to purchase it back in at high prices, is really not sustainable. It’s really a security issue as well, in my view.

And so, what we’ve done at the moment, there’s– again, a paper out which has closed. My department’s analysing all of that at the moment, looking at what are the incentives for industry to actually start up and produce sustainable aviation fuel here? That’s been widely welcomed by everybody, from fuel producers to feedstock producers to the aviation industry, and we’ll have more to say about the results of that consultation, which has concluded shortly. But I am very confident that we will see a sustainable aviation fuel industry here in Australia, and we will be playing our part in that.

Right at the back, I’ve just got someone with a hand– I’ve got someone with a hand up. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: A question on the slot management …

CATHERINE KING: Yes, of course.

JOURNALIST: … company that has that responsibility. Currently, all the majors have a share in that company. It looks to me like you’re not following the calls from some to have a company that has completely no relationship with the customers, which in this case is Qantas and Virgin and others. Why didn’t you go for a complete clean break on that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we’ve gone out for competitive tender. Let’s see what comes in. We haven’t made decisions about who the next slot manager will be, but we’ve gone out to– literally competitive open tender for that process. So, let’s see what the results of that are.

JOURNALIST: Minister, on this stubborn duopoly that you’ve got – it says here in the White Paper, page 70, that Qantas and Virgin …

CATHERINE KING: [Talks over] Yes, you’ve got that far. [Laughs]

JOURNALIST: Yeah. Well, you know, speed reader- [indistinct] told me.

CATHERINE KING: [Laughs]

JOURNALIST: It’s says that Qantas Group and …

CATHERINE KING: [Talks over] [Laughs] Thanks, Tom. It’s your Ballarat training …

JOURNALIST: …Virgin operate around 93 per cent of services. Now, this is obviously a long history with…

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: … the duopoly. Back on the Qatar question, shouldn’t your first priority be getting in a deep pocketed competitor to the duopoly?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I assume what you’re asking is that the speculation around Virgin and the potential of Qatar taking over part of Virgin. And really that’s a commercial issue, and I’ll let Virgin make any announcements about that. That obviously may be a decision that goes before the Treasurer in terms of FIRB, and I don’t think– or the FIRB, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on that.

JOURNALIST: Do you think the duopoly should be broken up, Minister?

CATHERINE KING: I think that it is challenging. I think that aviation is a very– it’s really– it’s a very expensive and difficult business to run. It involves the leasing of planes. It involves that interaction between the costs that airports and airports in and of themselves are a monopoly, because you can’t fly anywhere else. And so really what we’re trying to do is get as much competition as we possibly can, bearing in mind we are a small market, and that if you look at comparable countries, to have two airlines, and two airlines both in Virgin and in Qantas, but also in the low-cost carrier in Jetstar’s important. And we’ve got an issue that we’re dealing with in terms of regional aviation as well. That is– for a small market like ours, it is unusual.

And so, what we’ve got to try and do as a government is to keep that competition, make sure we obviously still continue to have a national carrier, which is Qantas. 51 per cent of it has to be owned by government, or sorry, owned by Australian interests – Virgin doesn’t have that constraint on it, but at the same time trying to make sure we get better deals for customers. And that’s really the balance that we’re trying to strike here in the Aviation White Paper. Thank you. Yes.

JOURNALIST: If a buyer does not emerge for Regional Express’s regional operations, will the government continue to support Rex after the administration ends in September?

CATHERINE KING: Well, all of that’s hypothetical at this stage. It’s right– we’re right in the administration process, and I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to pre-empt whether there’s a buyer, what’s going to happen in relation to that. What we do, is my department’s meeting daily with the administrators. We’re making sure that we actually have all of the information that government may need. Obviously, we are–the guarantee’s been important. We’ve extended that through voluntary administration, the guarantee around slots, that’s been important. We’ve done that today and we’ll continue to work with the administrators. We do want to see Rex 2.0, or a version of that emerge out of this. And we certainly want to see that those services provided to regional communities continue. One more question.

JOURNALIST: Can I just change the subject to road funding?

CATHERINE KING: Okay. Yes.

JOURNALIST: On another transport issue…

CATHERINE KING: Yes. Of course.

JOURNALIST: You want to change road funding arrangements on regional roads because you don’t think the feds should be carrying 80 per cent of the cost, and it should be 50/50 with the states. Today, there’s pushback on that from Chris Minns. Are you willing to negotiate on that 80/20, so that you won’t insist on 50/50 in order to get your land transport deals across the line with the states?

CATHERINE KING: So, the land transport deal is silent on the split of funding as it was previously. It’s– this one is silent on that. The Commonwealth, we put out an infrastructure policy statement back in November last year, and the Commonwealth’s contribution is 50/50 in terms of land transport. We think it is absolutely appropriate that that risk is shared. That’s important from keeping cost pressures down and that risk sharing. And that’s the proposal– that’s what the Commonwealth is offering states and territories.

JOURNALIST: [Interrupts] Minister, on the–

CATHERINE KING: Sorry, yep.

JOURNALIST: [Talks over] On that issue.

CATHERINE KING: Yes, sure.

JOURNALIST: I understand South Australia, Queensland and the ACT have agreed to your new terms. When do you expect other states to come on board and do they have a choice?

CATHERINE KING: Well, that will be a matter for states and territories. I think that we’ve been working on this agreement for some time now. If you remember, Jane Halton undertook a review of the National Partnership Agreement for me. She looked at the– and recommended that we return or we go to a 50/50 funding split. Again, really important in terms of risk sharing and ensuring that we keep those costs as low as we possibly can. But what I would say really clearly is the Commonwealth has increased its infrastructure budget. So, we have increased that. The Commonwealth is not proposing to decrease its infrastructure budget. What we are asking is that we have reasonable sharing with states and territories about the roads that we are funding together. Now, obviously, in some of the smaller jurisdictions, like the Northern Territory and Tasmania, that is a little more challenging. And obviously we have indicated to both of those jurisdictions some flexibility around that. We’ll talk to the new incoming Northern Territory government, but I would expect states and territories to be signing up to that agreement. Thanks.