Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Menzies for this motion calling for a better system to protect travel consumers and travel agents. In my electorate on the New South Wales South Coast I have a lot of wonderful elderly people and people getting close to retirement. It's no surprise that, having worked hard all their lives, they now want to travel. They plan meticulously, often with the help of their trusted local travel agent. They pop into their local travel agent and have a chat, and they know that if they have a question their local travel agent is always only a phone call away. That's what it's like in the country all along our coast: travel agents look after their customers and their communities, and customers look after their travel agents. But bushfires, floods and then the COVID pandemic have taken their toll on everyone.

I have spoken often about this in parliament. From very early on, I have talked with many local travel agents. I've seen and felt their pain and their tears. They are working around the clock to process refunds and to look after their clients, not to get paid but because it was the right thing to do. Shayne told me how she worked two other jobs to stay afloat and processed refunds. I listened to Joanne's heartbreaking story when she told me she wished her business hadn't been so successful because now she had to undo each tour, bit by bit. Bob from Gerringong has been a travel agent for over 40 years and said he's never seen things this bad. I met with Emma, Lindy and Jennie. Between them they have almost 100 years of experience in the travel industry. They came to me with suggestions for the future about how things should be made better to protect travellers and travel agents. I have had many, many constituents come to me who had booked travel only to go down the path of trying to get a refund. Most reported not being able to get through to many of the larger online travel providers. Some were eventually given partial credits. I have referred many people to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. I have written to the minister, but, for many people, there has been little joy.

Kathy came to see me and told me her story. In December 2019, Kathy and her husband paid $23,000 to Travelmarvel which comes under the APT umbrella. Kathy and her husband were going on the trip of a lifetime to Canada and Alaska. However, the tour was cancelled in April 2020 due to COVID-19. Initially they were offered a full credit voucher. However, given their age, health and personal circumstances, they requested a refund. Of that $23,000, they were offered a refund of $17,000, so they requested a breakdown of those irrecoverable costs. They refused to give them a breakdown of the costs, so they went to their insurance company. The insurance company initially refused to refund the gap of $6,000 because they were offered the credit. Kathy sought help from consumer advocate Adam Glezer who suggested Kathy lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Adam was another disgruntled Flight Centre customer turned consumer advocate who is calling for a major shake-up to how customers using travel companies are protected. So Kathy lodged a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. In this case, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority ordered the insurance company to pay the gap, which they did. Overall, Kathy and her husband did get their money back eventually, but it took a lot of work over a long period of time. And, as Kathy says, a lot of other people would have given up.

What is clear through this terrible ordeal is that customers and agents need better protections. If this can be done overseas, then so too can it be done in Australia. Consumers should have a right to a refund if the service they paid for hasn't been fulfilled due to situations outside of human control. There should be mandatory trust accounts for all travel agents, including online travel agents—and many of my local travel agents have raised this—so that customers are protected. There should be greater transparency around fees for service, so that there are no hidden costs, and travel agents should ensure that supplier terms and conditions are provided to customers.

I hope to see many of my constituents travelling again soon with their local travel agents, but we need better protections for all.

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