The Federal government has released its Aviation White Paper, setting out a series of reforms for the aviation industry.
The industry has faced numerous complaints from people with disability about their experiences flying and travelling through airports, including about damaged wheelchairs, broken toilet facilities, and lack of understanding or assistance from staff.
The Aviation White Paper states the government will create new aviation-specific disability standards, co-designed with the disability community, to “affirm the rights people with disability have during air travel and the obligations of airlines and airports.”
Additionally, the government will “improve remedies for damage to wheelchairs and other mobility devices” and require that airport development plans specifically explain how they will enable access for people with disability.
Disability advocates react
The Justice and Equity Centre (JEC) and People with Disability Australia (PWDA) welcomed the White Paper as “a significant first step for the rights of people with disability, but warned that the co-design process must include “genuine engagement with people with disability and their representative organisations from start to finish”.
“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,” said Megan Spindler-Smith, acting CEO of PWDA.
“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,” she added.
Erin Turner Manners, senior solicitor at JEC, said an independent regulator should be introduced alongside the new standards, 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,” she said.