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

Mr HOLZBERGER (Forde) (15:20): I rise to support the Aviation Consumer Protection Bill 2026 and the other bills. I definitely want to start by saying that the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government has really done a quite a remarkable job over the last few years dealing with what is one of the biggest challenges in the Australian economy, which is our aviation industry.

Of course, aviation sits well and truly as one of those essential services where we see a lot of the challenges exist, because they have been unintended consequences of what I like to talk about in this place every opportunity I get. Privatisation, economic rationalism and unfettered free trade have seen an essential service like our aviation industry really face challenges over and above what you would otherwise expect.

I think that at the heart of this there is actually an argument for long-term Labor governments, because Labor governments are the ones that are prepared to make the reforms. While it was the Hawke-Keating government that privatised Qantas, there was also an approach by Keating in 1995 where he talked about ameliorating some of the unintended consequences of that agenda.

As part of preparation for today's speech, I was going through some things that Keating had said about it. When he was talking about it at the time, it was a policy called Working Nation, which was really about rebalancing the role of government at the centre of the economy. Keating said: If I have learned one big thing in the past decade, it is that reform never stops you never entirely get out of the woods, there is always one thing more or two, or three or even four things.

You never really get to the last chapter. You might sometimes imagine that you are approaching it and that when you get over the next hill you'll see the words, " The End", emblazoned in a clear blue sky. But it doesn't happen. … … … Sometimes it does boil down to simple endurance.

The modern economic contest is a long distance race a very long distance race. It is like the modern marathon, it gets faster and faster. But unlike the marathon, it has no finish line. … … … I wish I could say all the reform was over and that we don't need to change any more.

But we do. We need the culture of " continuous initiative" … He went on to say in reference to the economic policies of the Hawke and Keating governments: As Australian policy had been right through the eighties, Working Nation was different to the orthodox model of economic liberalisation the model adopted in a number of other countries and by our opponents.

It took the view that we could be competitive and still look after those on the margins. We could compete with the best in the region and the world, and yet maintain our egalitarian values and preserve our social cohesion. Unfortunately, one year after giving that speech, the Keating government was defeated at the 1996 election and we weren't given the opportunity as the Labor Party to continue our great project of reform.

But reform, in a way, always keeps at the heart of it—that we are about lifting the living standards of working-class Australians. And so it is with aviation policy that measures in here continue that work. I will say a couple of other things in terms of what the Albanese government has done with aviation policy and how we tackle this idea of privatisation and economic rationalism, because I think the example of Rex stands in stark contrast to coalition governments just throwing their hands up in the air and saying that it's all too hard.

The measures that the Albanese government not only took but also signalled that they were prepared to take, including state acquisition of Rex, have stabilised that company now so that it is able to continue to play a role in the economic development of our regions as well as in the social development of our regions as it continues to keep people and business connected by maintaining that regional airline.

It took an interventionist policy from the Albanese Labor government, in the great Labor tradition of reform continuing to improve, continuing to change, continuing to bring about real change. The airline industry is another example of how the Albanese government has implemented that real and substantial change. I will talk specifically about one of the measures in this bill, the Aviation Consumer Ombudsperson.

I'd like to talk about what it means when you have an industry that is able to get away with unfettered regulation. Part of my way of working in the electorate is I text people in a particular area saying that I'm going to be doorknocking on a certain day, and if anybody would like me to come round, to make an appointment. One day I got an answer from Bruce Docker in Shailer Park, who asked me to come around and meet him at his place, and I did.

Bruce and his family are quintessential, salt-of-the-Earth Australians when you meet them—a delightful family who invited me into their home. Bruce had had a problem with Virgin. I'll read out a little bit from the letter that I wrote to Virgin on his behalf.

Bruce was going to Sydney to attend to a family event. He missed the flight owing to a gate change and was subsequently required to pay about $1,000 for a replacement ticket. He was seeking a refund of that charge and a review of Virgin's notification procedures.

Mr Docker told me that he'd got to the airport early for his afternoon flight owing to concerns about traffic on the M1, which is good forward planning. He was worried that he was going to miss his flight, worried about the unpredictability of travel times along the M1. He got to the gate as it was originally displayed some hours before the flight was due to leave.

However, there was a gate change that wasn't brought to his attention, and he told me that he didn't receive a text message, and he missed the flight as a result. When he approached Virgin to get assistance on that day, he was told that the only option available to him was to buy a new ticket at a replacement cost of about $1,000. He said that he really felt pressured in that exchange.

It was a take-it-or-leave-it offer, and he was worried that he wasn't going to be able to get to the family event, and so Mr Docker, who really couldn't afford that $1,000, found it, paid it and was shocked that it was going to cost that much. He made the booking, paid for the ticket and rang up his daughter, who told him that she went online and he could get the same ticket for between $200 and $300.

He was really shocked to see the disparity between what Virgin had told him at the counter and what his daughter could get online just minutes later. But even though he is really careful with his money and it was a hit to him, he paid it, and Virgin at the time decided not to give him that refund. He said that he'd been waiting at the gate.

Virgin had gone to the trouble of taking his checked baggage off the flight but couldn't go to the trouble of either sending him a text or announcing his name over the PA to say that he was required to board. So they went to all the trouble of taking the checked baggage off the flight but couldn't alert him otherwise. They just put up a brick wall and were not prepared to refund the $1,000.

Now, there are so many things there which should concern us all. But from a process point of view, one of the most concerning things is that he basically had to wait for a federal MP to say that they were going to be in the area, to make an appointment, to go through his story, for the federal MP to make that representation to Virgin, to even get heard. After a couple of months of back and forth and us pushing, Virgin finally agreed to at least refund $150, which was the original ticket from Brisbane to Sydney.

Virgin unfortunately upheld its decision to not refund the $1,000, but it took all of that effort to even get that $150 out of Virgin. Finally Virgin did some of the some of the right thing, even if they didn't do all of the right thing. The establishment of the aviation consumer ombudsperson should hopefully deal with that sort of thing.

Nobody should go to all that trouble to get $150 refund. Nobody should have to try and navigate the political system in order to be able to uphold their consumer rights. It is central to this legislation.

One of the reasons why this legislation should be supported is so that Mr Docker and people like Mr Docker don't have to go through a convoluted process to uphold their rights. Again, this is really quite concerning behaviour from Virgin. Hopefully, the charter will deal with some of these things as well.

But, of course, with all policies, nothing is set and forget, and we'll see where we go from here. Ultimately, this essentially sits within the government's cost-of-living strategy—consumer rights—and that's why, some 52 years or so from when the Whitlam government introduced the Fair Trading Act, this government is continuing that Labor tradition of actually fixing the system to protect consumers, which will not only end up meaning cheaper prices for consumers but also confidence for businesses.

In many ways we need legislation like this to protect businesses from themselves. Another arm of our approach to consumer protection includes increasing funding for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by more than $30 million, outlawing unfair contract terms, strengthening unit pricing codes, making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, outlawing non-compete clauses in workplace contracts and, as of Wednesday, prohibiting price gouging at supermarkets.

This really sits, I think, in the part of the Labor project that provides cost-of-living relief to consumers and provides confidence in businesses as well. This legislation is measured and achievable, and it is not going to some of the extremes that people would like to see. This is about making sure that our aviation industry operates well in quite a difficult market, in Australia.

I commend the bill to the House.