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 LAXALE (Bennelong) (17:08): It's an honour to speak following the assistant minister, someone who's so passionate about consumer protection. I congratulate him and all the work he's done in advocating within government for stronger protections for consumers not only here in this bill but in all the ways he just told the House. Mr Burns: He's a consumer champion.

Mr LAXALE: He's a consumer champion. That's exactly right. What we're seeing right now with the war in the Middle East is how disruption and uncertainty with air travel has impacted travellers, family members, backpackers and people just flying abroad.

But we've seen this uncertainty before. The ramifications from the impact that COVID had on the country's borders, the number of aeroplanes that were actually in the sky and fuel supply chains are still being felt today and, of course, are now being accentuated by conflict in the Middle East. Global uncertainty like this has an impact.

We learned during COVID that there were many questionable practices from airlines. There were changes in their conduct. There was poor communication to travellers, and there was potential anti-competitive behaviour.

These experiences have shown us that it's hugely important that travellers have increased protections when they travel but also a clear understanding of what they're entitled to. For over a decade under the previous coalition government, things stagnated. Consumer protections waned, and too many people were ripped off.

It's staggering that over half of the flying public have experienced a flight disruption in a 12-month period and only a third of those were satisfied with how it was handled. Here are some more stats from the same survey done by BETA: eighty-two per cent said they did not receive any support when they experienced an airline disruption, and 81 per cent also said that they were not informed of their rights as consumers when these disruptions occurred.

That's not to say that delays are always the fault of an airline. Obviously, they're quite common, and they happen for a whole heap of reasons. Air travel is a complex industry with so many factors at play, and sometimes delays are inevitable.

But what it does tell us is that consumer rights and their knowledge of them is at a low, with a whopping 79 per cent of Australians surveyed reporting that they know either nothing or only a little bit about their rights when they're travelling by air. The point of this legislation is to change that. We need to lift the standards of the passenger air travel experience in Australia.

So what we have here is a big package of bills. We've got the Aviation Consumer Protection Bill, the Aviation Consumer Protection Levy Bill, the Aviation Consumer Protection Levy (Collection) Bill and the Aviation Consumer Protection (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill. There's quite a bit in there, but it shows the complexity in our current system and outlines the level at which this government is committed to giving all air travellers a fair go and providing transparency to them when travelling.

Importantly, this package of bills will hold the aviation industry accountable. It will deliver better outcomes for consumers and will deliver on our commitment to improve aviation consumer protection. This package of bills puts the onus on airlines and airports to treat customers in a fair and reasonable manner when delays inevitably occur.

Let's start from the top. The Aviation Consumer Protection Bill will enable the creation of an aviation consumer protections charter, which will set minimum standards for the provision of airline, airport and accessibility services for aviation consumers, with the charter itself to be developed through regulation following the passage of this legislation through parliament.

As well as this, the bill will provide for systemic monitoring, compliance and enforcement of those standards by the Aviation Consumer Protection Authority. This will be established within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts. Next, it will enable the authorisation of an external dispute resolution scheme.

This will handle any and all aviation related complaints and be operated, importantly, by an independent not-for-profit. This scheme will be known as the Aviation Consumer Ombudsperson. The bill will also establish the Aircraft Noise Ombudsperson, shortened to the ANO, within the same department.

This will ensure that the ANO is independent of both Airservices Australia and the Department of Defence. This is important because it will review the management of aircraft noise complaints by Airservices Australia and the department. As mentioned, three additional bills are included in this package which are needed to implement these reforms.

The Aviation Consumer Protection Levy Bill, together with the Aviation Consumer Protection Levy (Collection) Bill, will provide the necessary imposition and collection of levies to cost-recover the administration expenses associated with the ACP Bill. And the Aviation Consumer Protection (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026 will manage the transitional provisions of the bill, such as clarifying that a breach of a standard in the charter by an airline will not result in the cancellation of a licence under the Air Navigation Act.

That's all quite a lot to cover, so in short we'll be establishing a charter to ensure airlines and airports meet the standards customers expect; on top of that, two separate ombudspersons will help with aviation complaints handling and aircraft noise complaints handling; and obviously there'll be a manner to fund these reforms. Like all our legislation, this was carefully thought through.

The government has undertaken extensive consultation on the development of these bills and this policy to make sure it's right. In August 2024, one such consultation undertaken by the government was through the important Aviation white paper, which received more than 2,000 submissions and convened 22 roundtables across Australia. These consultation processes are incredibly important because they help the government form the development of this framework.

We would not have been able to design this scheme or the charter without these initial consultations, so a level of gratitude needs to be given to those in the industry and, importantly, to the consumer stakeholders who have assisted in this process, including Airlines for Australia and New Zealand; the Regional Aviation Association of Australia; the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia; the International Air Transport Association; Qantas and Virgin; the Australian Airports Association; the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney airports; the Australian Lawyers Alliance; CHOICE; and the Justice and Equity Centre.

My point, though, is that when we develop important reforms like this we listen and engage constructively. We meet with industry, we meet with consumers and we encourage direct feedback from our local communities, and further engagement is ongoing. There has been an extensive number of briefings, information sessions and workshops in the lead-up to this bill coming before parliament today.

I want to mention a constituent of mine in Bennelong. Edilia Ford wrote to me in January this year not only about an episode she went through a few years ago in particular but also in regard to these important reforms. In 2020, Edilia and her husband had plans to travel internationally.

Sadly, due to COVID, their trip had to be cut short. On their departure day, despite Italy declaring a lockdown, the travel company they used advised them the tour was proceeding and to board the flight, and the only way they could avoid losing their $7,600 tour payment was to board the flight. Of course, immediately upon landing in Budapest, they were told their trip was cancelled, and because the booking company held the airline authority they couldn't change their original return flights, so they opted to book their own flights home.

I'd make the case that this was the right thing for them to do. It was an uncertain time, and a once-in-a-generation pandemic had just started. However, following their cancellation and their new plans, they were entangled in a five-year struggle to recover their money.

The booking company refused to cash refund; instead it offered a partial refund that could only be used for international travel. Given they had no plans to travel, they ended up losing this credit. Edilia had sought remedy through organisations such as the NCAT and the ACCC, but the solutions provided by these agencies weren't enough.

It was clear that consumer laws needed to be changed. It's not fair for air travel customers to be trapped in a responsibility loop, with blame being deflected between airlines, hotels and booking companies. It's because of stories like Edilia's that we are putting these important reforms in place.

They will hopefully reshape the way consumers interact with the aviation industry. They'll provide better booking information, provide clarity if things go wrong and afford consumers more protections if that happens. These are the most significant reforms to the aviation sector in more than a decade.

As mentioned, we released the Aviation white paper, passed new laws to boost competition at Sydney airport, released our draft passenger charter of rights and reinstated ACCC monitoring of the airlines. Now we're delivering the Australian-first aviation consumer protections that will clarify airline obligations and the minimum level of assistance required when there is flight disruption.

This framework strikes the right balance. We need to balance supporting air travellers and passengers with sensible standards while also ensuring that airlines are still operationally feasible. A strong and competitive aviation sector is fundamental to growing Australia's economy and support regional connectivity, which is why this balance between standards for passengers and the aviation industry operations is so important to get right.

The current system of airlines policing themselves has not worked as well as it should have. These reforms represent a necessary increase in protections for Australian travellers. We'll continue to consult with airlines and airports of the development of any subordinate legislation and regulation and the final form of the charter, ensuring that they'll all be ready to implement these important standards.

I commend this bill to the House.