The Aviation White Paper released today is a missed opportunity to bring Australian passenger rights in line with other countries internationally, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
"The proposed Charter of Rights and the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme are an improvement on the current situation but, overall, the White Paper is disappointing for consumers and a missed opportunity," said Victoria Roy, travel lawyer and spokesperson for the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).
"The Aviation White Paper sets the plan to achieve the government's vision for aviation until 2050. By failing to introduce a simple flight delay compensation scheme, the government has committed to keep Australian passenger rights behind the EU, UK, Canada, Malaysia, Brazil, India, Turkey and countless other jurisdictions for the next 25 years.
"The government has also shown its indifference towards victims of sexual assault and psychiatric injury by failing to commit to a consultation on reforming the Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act."
The Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme outlined in the White Paper will direct airlines to meet their obligations to passengers consistent with current legislation within the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) but does not provide any new rights to passengers.
"The Australian Consumer Law is complex and has exemptions which the White Paper does not address," said Ms Roy. "The government is 'consulting' on reforms to the ACL to strengthen consumer guarantees including 'consideration' of a 'potential' civil prohibition for failure to provide a consumer guarantees remedy.However, air passengers need certainty and better protections now.
"Replacing the Airline Consumer Advocate with an Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme which will have the power to direct airlines to provide remedies is an improvement. However, it raises the question of whether the ombudsperson will direct airlines to pay compensation for inconvenience and distress as well as ticket refunds and passenger expenses, and if so, how it will quantify that compensation.A commitment to a flight delay compensation scheme would have given passengers certainty.
"We are pleased to see that airlines will be required to report reasons for delay and cancellation which will provide transparency to passengers and give data to the ombudsperson and allow the ACCC to take necessary action.The expectation that the Charter will remove ambiguity by defining what length of delay is 'unreasonable' under the ACL is also welcome.However, when the delay is unreasonable and the reason is within the airline's control, passengers deserve a clear right to compensation which the White Paper fails to deliver.
"Improved rights for passengers with disability are also pleasingly addressed in the White Paper including consulting in 2025 on options to amend the Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act to increase compensation for loss or damage to mobility devices by domestic airlines."
However, the Australian Government has ignored the need for wider consultation on failings of the Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act which currently leaves several cohorts of air passengers without rights including:
- Passengers who have sustained a psychiatric injury;
- Passenger victims of sexual assault;
- Family members of deceased passengers; and
- Passengers in light aircraft on private, recreational or business flights.
