Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) | Hansard source

In the year ending May 2023, more than 55 million Australians flew on an Australian domestic flight. Whether for business or leisure, one thing every Australian traveller will agree on is that the cost of flights is surging and flight delays can be expected. Travellers are experiencing almost double the rate of flight cancellations and a 50 per cent increase in delayed flights compared to the long-term average. A staggering 12,000 flights were delayed by more than 15 minutes in April this year. In that same period, 1,700 flights were cancelled.

Following the pandemic years of little travel, particularly for leisure, Australians are being encouraged to holiday in our own beautiful, unique country, yet the cost of a flight has grown significantly. A flight in 2023 is more expensive than one in 2019, greatly impacting Australians' ability to travel. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made their final report on airline competition. Their report confirmed what every traveller already knew: the cost of flights has increased. This report showed that the cost of a flight in May this year had increased by 32 per cent in one year.

In my electorate of Capricornia, Rockhampton Airport is the gateway to Central Queensland and is the main aviation port for the region. The cost of a one-way flight to Brisbane can be over $400 in peak periods. The price of aviation fuel has halved since its peak in mid-2022 and is on a par with pricing seen in 2018. Aviation fuel was down to $137 per barrel in May this year compared to the $259 per barrel seen in June 2022. However, the consumer hasn't seen the drop passed on when booking with their chosen carrier.

In 2020, the former coalition government directed the ACCC to monitor airlines for three years during the pandemic to ensure the interests of Australian travellers were being looked after. This ACCC monitoring was put in place to ensure essential air connectivity was maintained to preserve critical aviation capacity and protect supply chains. As part of this directive, the ACCC monitored the price of airfares, costs and profits in the domestic air passenger sector. In the ACCC's May report, they highlighted that domestic airfare prices were 13 per cent higher in real terms in May 2023 compared to May 2019.

Not only was the ACCC to monitor airfare costs; it was also to observe the level of capacity the airlines were putting on each route and whether this was occurring in a way that might damage competition. It was noted that airlines are taking advantage of policies across major Australian airports which allow them to retain a landing and take-off slot for an indefinite amount of time. This is impeding new or expanding airlines acquiring the time slots needed to launch new services which would drive down airfares.

When travellers are being slugged by high ticket prices, more cancellations and lengthy delays, now is not the time for this government to pull out of monitoring the industry. This government's hands-off approach to the sector will only compound the struggle for reasonably priced airfares and will affect Australia's domestic market.

Throughout the three years of the ACCC monitoring the aviation sector, it was noted that the current Airline Customer Advocate is generally ineffective. There is a clear need for an independent new system for resolving disputes between airlines and customers, one which is a truly independent, external, dispute resolution ombudsman scheme with the ability to make binding decisions. The ACCC also considered that there is merit for the government to consider a consumer compensation scheme for delayed or cancelled flights.

More needs to be done to make the aviation sector competitive, while also ensuring Australians aren't receiving a raw deal with the cost of airfares. In these years following the COVID-19 pandemic we need to be encouraging domestic travel to boost the economy for our regional communities. Ensuring that airfares are reasonably priced will go a long way to encouraging tourism back into the regions. This government must extend a direction to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to keep track of the aviation sector. With the barrel price of aviation fuel dropping and new competition through airlines like Bonza, ceasing watch over the current players in the industry is a ludicrous decision by this government.

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