Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

This private member's motion on airline monitoring is an important motion, because, as you can see, the government plays an important role in the aviation industry by setting the regulations and the safety standards but also, very importantly, by monitoring competition. If we look at the last few years, with COVID and then leading out of COVID, we know that this is a very important job. We have seen increases in airline tickets and the cutting of a range of staff from our wonderful airlines. So it is very important that we keep that competition. That job includes the good work that the ACCC, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has been doing to ensure that airlines operating within Australia are compliant with the Competition and Consumer Act.

Back in 2020, the former Treasurer issued a direction to the ACCC to monitor prices, costs and profits relating to the supply of domestic air passenger transport services in Australia for a period of three years, and this direction came at a time of severe disruption, as I said earlier, during the pandemic—disruption especially to passengers but also to the airline sector, as no-one could actually travel because of the border closures. When giving this direction, the then Treasurer also gave an end date of three years. So it was always planned for it to end at this point, and the current government in no way altered those directions of the previous government.

Now, those opposite started the monitoring and they decided when to end the monitoring. They can try to perhaps hide the facts all they want, but this was their decision. While the direction expired in June 2023, the Australian government's Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics will continue to publish reporting around domestic airfares on a monthly basis, and I know that that will be done because I've had discussions with the transport minister on this, because it's a very, very important issue in terms of ensuring that consumers have choice and that there's competition in the industry. I know that our government will be keeping a very strong eye on this particular situation, and if the situation requires it, then the Australian government will resume the ACCC monitoring.

Airlines play an important role in our nation. We are an island nation, a huge nation, and we are solely dependent on airlines when we travel from cities to cities over vast, great distances. Most people in Europe travelling the distance that all of us in here travel every week, on and off, would be going through three different countries. So it's important that we monitor these airlines to ensure that they're doing the right thing but also to ensure that there's fair competition. There has been talk recently about other airlines coming into the market as well, especially in the international market.

The Albanese government also committed to delivering an aviation white paper, to set the scene for the next generation of growth and development across the aviation sector and to ensure that there's competition working in support of the consumers, the Australian public. We saw a decade of inaction by the opposition. This will provide a new chance for us as a nation to chart the opportunities for the future. The white paper includes considering as a priority the economic reforms needed to improve productivity across the sector, such as addressing skill shortages and competitiveness, to ensure the sector is appropriately positioned to deliver aviation services for the Australian public and international visitors out to 2050. So it is a vision for a number of years.

The white paper process will also consider consumer protection issues and stakeholder views on options to improve the complaint-handling process. We've seen this reported in the media consistently since COVID. It's very important that we look at this and implement measures to ensure that there's protection for the customer. The green paper is due out in the coming months. We're looking forward to continuing to work with the industry, communities and other aviation stakeholders during the white paper process, which is expected to wrap up by 2024, and in advancing aviation productivity and competition in Australia.

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