Joint statement: PWDA and JEC respond to Aviation White Paper

26 August 2024

Aviation Transport Standards welcomed, but need genuine co-design to work for people with disability

• The Australian Government has committed to develop an Aviation Disability Standard setting out requirements for airlines and airports to improve the accessibility of their services in a White Paper released today.
• The Government will consider processes to improve air travel for people with disability including removing policies limiting the number of passengers on a flight who require assistance.
• The Justice and Equity Centre and People with Disability Australia has worked alongside organisations in the disability sector to drive calls for independently enforced air travel disability standards, co-designed by people with disability.

The Justice and Equity Centre (‘JEC’) and People with Disability Australia (‘PWDA’) welcomes today’s White Paper announcing the Government’s intentions to develop new Disability Standards for air travel. This is a significant first step in addressing longstanding discrimination by airlines which has prevented people with disability from being able to travel by air equally with others in the community.

The JEC and PWDA has long advocated for Aviation Disability Standards, and PWDA endorsed the JEC’s key Recommendation from their submission to the November 2023 Aviation Green Paper.

Currently, there are Disability Standards for public transport, requiring a minimum level of accessibility, but they do not adequately address the unique features of air travel. And they have not prevented discrimination against people with disability when flying.

We are pleased to see the Government’s commitment to co-designing these Standards with people with disability, who best understand the problems and their solutions. To work, this process must involve genuine engagement with people with disability and their representative organisations from start to finish.

The White Paper recognises current complaints mechanisms are failing people with disability, and failing to ensure airlines and airports meet their obligations. The Government must now commit to proactively enforcing these Standards through an independent regulator so these standards work for people with disability.

Comments attributable to Megan Spindler-Smith, Acting CEO, People with Disability Australia:

‘Air travel is an essential service for all Australians, allowing people to connect with friends and family, and access employment and education opportunities. But too often people with disability face unfair and discriminatory barriers to air travel, at every step of the process: from booking tickets, to disembarking the flight at their destination.’

‘People with disability time and time again are discriminated against when traveling on planes. The changes announced in today’s Aviation White Paper are a welcome first step, but we as people with disability need to be equitable partners in co-designing the new Disability Standards for air travel.’

‘Alongside the standards, we need to see comprehensive and disability-led education for all airline and airport staff, so staff working on the ground and flying with people with disability know how to support people with disability. Ableism and lack of knowledge are often the barrier people with disability face the most.’

‘We want to see a regulator also take a more active role in enforcing the Disability Standards once co-designed. When people with disability co-design the Disability Standards for air travel, it should no longer rely on individual people to make complaints to make sure airlines comply with standards.’

Comments attributable to Erin Turner Manners, Senior Solicitor Justice and Equity Centre:

‘Aviation Disability Standards are an essential part of removing barriers to flying, but will only succeed if there is a fair and effective co-design process which considers, in good faith, the solutions provided by people with disability.’

‘The Standards must be introduced together with an independent regulator to proactively enforce the Standards so the rights of people with disability are respected. The airline industry has failed to solve this problem and airlines and airports must know there are real consequences for continuing to discriminate.’

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Learn more at: Aviation White Paper—Towards 2050 | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.