SENATOR THE HON BRIDGET MCKENZIE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
LEADER OF THE NATIONALS IN THE SENATE
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA
SENATOR DEAN SMITH
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY
LIBERAL SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Australians deserve an aviation industry where planes take off and arrive on time, and their bags arrive with them.
Despite pressure from the Coalition to improve the airline industry, flight cancellations and delays continue to go in the wrong direction.
The Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Senator Bridget McKenzie and Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury have given notice to the Senate to introduce the Airline Passenger Protections (Pay on Delay) Private Senators Bill.
In the light of Qantas ticketing scandal and alleged ghost flights, the Pay on Delay Bill is designed to clean up Australia’s airline industry through ensuring concrete protections for passengers to, from and within Australia and its territories in the event of flight delays, cancellations, or denials of boarding.
The Bill will clarify a passenger’s ticket is on a particular flight, to a particular destination, at a particular time.
The Albanese Government has failed to ensure travelling Australians are not taken advantage of by our airlines and instead have spent the past 18 months running a protection racket for Qantas who represent more than 60 per cent of the Australian airline industry.
If the Minister won’t act in the face of the egregious behaviour from Australian airlines on the behalf of travelling Australians, the Coalition will.
This has become even more clear following there former ACCC chair Alan Fels’ Press Club address on Wednesday which confirmed flight prices were up to 30% higher because of Minister King’s decision to block more Australian flights for Qatar Airways last year.
A recommendation of last year’s Aviation Senate inquiry was to review airline consumer protections, and this Bill will ensure passengers are being treated fairly by the airline industry in the future.
Australians travelling to see friends and family or for work are consistently let down by cancelled and delayed flights. In November alone, 45.3 per cent of flights were cancelled or delayed across Australia’s busiest routes, the ‘Golden Triangle’, of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, leading to widespread disruption and customer dissatisfaction.
The Liberals and Nationals will always work to provide a safer, more reliable, and affordable airline industry for Australians.
The Airline Passenger Protections (Pay on Delay) Private Senators Bill will be introduced on February 26.