Aviation Consumer Protection Bill 2026, Aviation Consumer Protection (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026, Aviation Consumer Protection Levy Bill 2026, Aviation Consumer Protection Levy (Collection) Bill 2026

Ms WITTY (Melbourne) (12:35): I rise today to speak in support of the Aviation Consumer Protection Bill 2026. Aviation matters in Australia in a way that is different to many other countries. We are a large island nation with vast distances between our cities, our regions and the rest of the world.

For many Australians, flying is not a luxury. It is how people get to work, stay connected with family, get home for study, travel for medical care, attend funerals and reach holidays they have saved for, month after month. In a city like Melbourne, we know how deeply air travel connects to daily life.

We are a city of students, migrants, workers, families, artists, businesses and visitors. People fly in to study, attend major events, see families, build a future or simply come home. A delayed flight can mean missing a connection, a shift, a medical appointment, a funeral or the first day of a long-planned holiday.

Poor information turns stress into confusion. Poor complaints handling sends people running in circles. That is the heart of this bill.

It is about what happens when things go wrong. It is about whether passengers are treated fairly, whether rights are clear, whether standards are real and whether accountability actually exists. The current system has not been good enough.

For too long, airline passengers have had to rely on voluntary industry arrangements and airlines escalating complaints themselves. In practice, the same industry that caused the problem has controlled too much of the pathway for fixing it. That is not a strong consumer protection system, it is not a clear pathway for passengers and it is not good enough for Australians, who pay good money for a service and deserve to know what they can expect in return.

The aviation white paper released by the Albanese Labor government made this clear. It found that the industry-led Airline Customer Advocate had not delivered an effective complaints resolution service and that government needed to establish a stronger and more effective body. The Albanese government is delivering the most significant reform to aviation consumer protection this country has seen.

This bill establishes a new aviation consumer protection framework. It creates an independent aviation consumer ombudsperson, paves the way for an aviation consumer protection charter, establishes the Aviation Consumer Protection Authority to enforce that charter and supports the continued work of an aircraft noise ombudsperson. On that, I have seen firsthand that good advocacy leads to good legislation, like this bill.

The East Melbourne Group, a suburb association within my electorate, has raised with me the real impact of aircraft noise on local residents. They have spoken about what it means for people living under flight paths—hearing the noise in their homes, in their streets and in the quiet parts of daily life. That kind of local advocacy matters.

This bill is about supporting people. It is not about punishing airlines or pretending aviation is simple. Weather events happen, global crises happen and technical issues happen.

Many workers across aviation do difficult jobs to keep people moving safely. This bill recognises that reality, but it also says something simple: complexity cannot be an excuse for confusion. When a flight is delayed, cancelled or disrupted, people deserve clear information.

They deserve fair treatment. They deserve to know what support they can access. And when a company does the wrong thing, people deserve a pathway that does not exhaust them before the complaint is even heard.

The case for reform is strong. Research from the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government found that more than half of the flying public experienced a flight disruption in a 12-month period. Only around a third were satisfied with how that disruption was handled.

This is a problem. Even more concerning is the fact that 82 per cent said they did not receive any support when they experienced a disruption and 81 per cent said they were not informed of their rights. This is not just an inconvenience; it is a system leaving people in the dark.

And when people tried to complain, their experience was not much better. Only 39 per cent of people who made a complaint were satisfied with the outcome. Only 17 per cent were satisfied with the complaint process overall.

People can accept that travel is sometimes disrupted. What is harder to accept is silence, being bounced from one channel to another or being told to check an app when what you need is a person, an answer and a fair resolution. This is where the Aviation Consumer Ombudsperson matters.

The ombudsperson will provide a fair, accessible and independent external dispute resolution service for complaints about airlines and airports. If a consumer believes an airline or an airport has acted inconsistently with the charter and they are not satisfied with how their complaint has been handled, they will be able to seek help from the ombudsperson. The ombudsperson will be able to investigate, compel information, recommend actions, help resolve disputes and make determinations requiring an airline or airport operator to resolve a complaint in a particular way.

This bill also creates the framework for the Aviation Consumer Protections Charter. The charter will set out minimum standards that aviation consumers can expect from airlines and airports. It will cover obligations when flights are disrupted, delayed or cancelled.

It will also deal with booking information, assistance, communication and consumer complaint handling. At the moment, too many passengers do not know what they are entitled to when a flight is cancelled—whether that be a refund, a credit, a hotel room, transport, meals or better information. It says the system should not depend on who knows the rules, who has the time to fight or who can afford to wait.

It says there should be a minimum standard for everyone. The government has also been clear about refunds and support. When flights are cancelled for reasons within an airline's control, passengers should be able to get their money back in the form they paid, unless they choose a travel credit.

A travel credit might suit some people, but it should not be forced on people when what they need is the money returned. Where a cancelled flight causes additional cost, the proposed scheme seeks to make sure airlines cover reasonable costs, such as meals, transport or overnight accommodation. This bill is also important because aviation is not experienced equally by everyone.

For people with disabilities, medical conditions or injuries, air travel can involve extra barriers, extra planning and extra risk. The government's research found that around one in four travellers identified as having a disability, medical condition or injury. Two in five did not know how to access the assistance service available to them.

That should trouble all of us. Accessibility cannot be treated as an optional extra. People should not have to fight to be told what assistance exists.

They should not be treated as an afterthought in a system that exists to move people safely. This bill helps shift responsibility back where it belongs. The charter will put the obligation on airlines and airports to treat customers, including those with accessibility needs, in a fair and reasonable way when delays inevitably occur.

Fairness means more than a refund. It means dignity. It means information people can understand.

It means assistance that is actually accessible. It means systems that see people as people, not booking numbers. The bill also establishes the Aviation Consumer Protection Authority inside the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.

The authority will enforce the charter, investigate systematic issues, carry out enforcement activity and, where needed, pursue enforcement of ombudsperson's determinations through judicial processes. Transparency is essential to this reform. The bill will support the reporting and publication of reasons for flight delays, cancellations and disruptions.

That will help consumers understand what happened and help the regulator and the ombudsperson determine whether a disruption was within or outside the control of the airline or airport. Accountability depends on information. Consumers should not have to guess.

The government understands that aviation industry is not one single thing. A major airline is not the same as a small regional airport. A large airline is not the same as a small operator.

That is why the framework includes the ability for the minister to exempt regulatory entitlements in full or in part with regard to factors like the impact on consumers and the size, type and financial capacity of the entity. The government intends to exempt airports with fewer than one million passengers per year. That means the framework would apply to Australia's 14 largest airports and Western Sydney airport, capturing 93 per cent of passenger movements while recognising the role and limits of smaller airports, with strong standards for consumers, a practical approach for industry and care for regional, rural and remote communities where aviation can be a lifeline.

The government has also taken a sensible approach on costs and compensation. The priority is to lift the standards of passenger air travel in Australia. Financial compensation has been considered, but international experience shows costs can be passed onto consumers and do not always improve airline performance.

That is why, consistent with the aviation white paper, airlines will not be required to provide automatic monetary compensation for cancellations, significant delays or disruptions. Instead, this framework focuses on clear rights, better supports, proper refunds, reasonable costs, stronger complaint handling and real accountability. The reforms do not stand alone.

In its first term, the Albanese government released the Aviation white paper. It passed new laws to boost competition at Sydney Airport; it released the draft passenger charter of rights. It reinstated ACCC monitoring of airlines, which the Liberals and Nationals had planned to end.

It is part of a broader plan to give passengers a better deal, strengthen competition and make airlines and airports more accountable while maintaining Australia's strong safety record. Aviation should be safe, it should be competitive, it should be sustainable, and it should be fair. For Melbourne, this matters deeply.

My electorate is full of people who fly on flights to stay connected with family across the country and around the world. We are home to international students, workers, families, small businesses and older Australians who need certainty when they travel. They deserve to know that, when they buy a ticket, they are not buying a fight.

They deserve to know that, when something goes wrong, they will not be left alone at the gate refreshing an app and waiting for the answer that never comes. They deserve clear standards, they deserve fair remedies, and they deserve a voice that is independent of the company they are complaining about. That is what this bill delivers.

This bill is not pretending every flight will run on time. It is not pretending every disruption can be avoided, and it is not pretending aviation can be simplified by legislation alone, but it does something important. It puts consumers back at the centre, it says trust has to be earned, it says accountability cannot be voluntary, it says passengers deserve better than confusion, delay and silence.

This is practical Labor reform. It takes a system that was too unclear, too weak and too frustrating, and starts to build something stronger in its place—a system where standards are clear, complaints are heard fairly, industry is accountable and people are treated with dignity when plans fall apart. That is the kind of reform Australia expects from this parliament, and it is the kind of reform the Albanese Labor government is delivering.

I am proud to support this bill, I am proud to support stronger protections for Australian travellers, and I commend this bill to the House.