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 FRANCE (Dickson) (13:21): I rise to speak on the Aviation Consumer Protection Bill 2026 and the related bills. Australia is a big country, and we are a long way from almost everywhere, including, very often, from each other. That makes aviation more than a convenience for Aussies.

It is how we travel to see our family and friends. It is how those in regional and remote communities get to see specialists and specialist services in major town centres. It's how our businesses work across states.

And it is how families separated by thousands of kilometres get to sit together around the same table at Christmas. We rely on flying, in a way that not many other countries do. So, when things go wrong—when a flight is cancelled, when a family is left stranded at a gate with kids in tow, when your luggage with a week's worth of clothes doesn't arrive—it matters.

For far too long the deal for travellers when things have gone wrong has not been good enough. That's why the Albanese Labor government is delivering the most significant reforms to Australia's aviation sector in over a decade. Until now, when a complaint could not be sorted out, a traveller has largely been left to resolve the issue themselves, relying on the airlines, and most of us are all too familiar with how this arrangement ends up playing out.

When your flight is delayed or cancelled or your travel is disrupted, you're often left with no choice but to wear it. Too many people have been left frustrated, out of pocket and with nowhere independent to turn for a resolution. Recently we saw exactly how badly this can go.

The conflict in the Middle East has caused major disruptions to flights and to fuel and real uncertainty for Australian travellers. We've seen passengers unsure of what to do next and unsure of what they are even entitled to do when a flight is cancelled. Our airlines have done a great deal of difficult work to get Aussies home safely during that conflict, and that work is appreciated.

But this moment has outlined something important: Australians who rely on aviation deserve clear protections and a clear understanding of their rights, especially when the unexpected happens. That is what this bill delivers. It is the most significant reform to aviation consumer protection this country has seen, and it flows directly from our aviation white paper—our plan to protect passengers while keeping our aviation sector competitive and while keeping our proud safety record intact.

Let me set out what these bills actually do. First, they establish the new Aviation Consumer Ombudsperson, an independent body that will work with travellers, airlines and airports to resolve complaints. If an airline or an airport has not done the right thing and a traveller is not satisfied with how their complaint has been handled, they will have somewhere genuinely independent to go.

The ombudsperson will be able to investigate, to compel information and to determine how a complaint should be resolved. Most importantly, it will be free for the consumer to use to pursue a remedy to their complaint. Second, the bills establish an aviation consumer protections charter.

The charter will set out minimum standards that travellers can expect from airlines and airports—standards for what should happen with bookings, with check in and boarding, with baggage, with complaints handling and with the assistance people are owed when flights are disrupted, delayed or cancelled. For the first time, the expectations of airlines and what is owed to customers will be made plain and clear.

Third, the bills establish the Aviation Consumer Protection Authority. The authority will be a dedicated regulator within the department to enforce the charter and to take on the systemic problems in the sector, not just one complaint at a time. Where the ombudsperson helps the individual traveller, the regulator looks at the bigger patterns to make sure the industry is held to account if necessary.

This framework is about meaningful protection for passengers while keeping aviation competitive, affordable and sustainable, including the regional routes that so many of our regional and remote communities depend on—in particular, my state of Queensland. There is a balance, and these bills achieve that balance. On top of that, these bills also make changes to deal with aircraft noise, an issue that matters enormously to the people I represent in Dickson.

For at least five years, I have heard from people living in my community of Dickson about the impact of aircraft noise on the Samford Valley and how changes in flight paths, increases in the number of flights and the difficulty in trying to give feedback to Airservices Australia have impacted on their quality of life. These bills establish an independent aircraft noise ombudsperson to address the impact of aircraft noise on people on the ground.

The aircraft noise ombudsperson will conduct investigative reviews into how Airservices Australia and the Department of Defence handle aircraft noise complaints, the community consultation processes regarding changes affecting aircraft noise and how aircraft noise information is presented and distributed. The aircraft noise ombudsperson will be independent of Airservices Australia and the Department of Defence, consistent with the commitment made in the aviation white paper.

The ombudsperson will have the capacity to publish independent reports and make recommendations to the government for policy or regulatory change. Our aviation consumer protection bills are not just about passengers. We're also looking out for the people who live under the flight paths, who live with the daily noise and impact of every aircraft passing overhead.

The new runway at Brisbane Airport opened in 2020 with little community consultation, particularly when it came to aircraft noise. Since the new runway has arrived, I've met with Samford Valley residents regularly on this issue. Samford Valley sits like a natural amphitheatre.

Its geography means that sound is projected. For the families there, aircraft noise is not a passing annoyance. It's impacted on their quality of life, disrupted sleep and meant pollution and constant noise.

I want to recognise the residents across my electorate who have advocated on this issue tirelessly for years, to make use of our airspace fairer for the people most affected by the noise. We take your concerns seriously, and these changes finally mean your complaints and concerns will be heard by a new independent ombudsman. I am proud that our government has already taken real steps to look out for consumers and residents impacted by flight paths.

Changes implemented by Airservices Australia include limiting the ability of some aircraft to take off before 6 am, boosting the number of flights that are required to take off and land over water during the night and early mornings on the weekends, reinstating the previous flight path used for overwater departures so that aircraft take off— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43.

The debate may be resumed at a later hour, and the member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.