Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Having listened to the speech of the member for Moncrieff on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 and cognate bills, I want to raise an issue with him. I appreciate that a large part of his speech was dedicated to the issue of small business, and tourism in particular—and no doubt quite genuinely so. But I would say this to him about the current debate, having listened to local radio in my area: small businesses, particularly those involved in the tourism industry, are very concerned about the fact that there has been such a drop in the domestic tourism industry. People are not taking their holidays. They are working long hours. That is impacting on domestic tourism in quite significant ways—to the extent that the tourism industry is looking at running a campaign encouraging people to take their holidays.

The industry certainly needs to do that very quickly. At the rate Work Choices is going, people will not have holidays to take in the first place. That is hardly going to be a particularly effective outcome for small businesses involved in the tourism industry. I just draw the member’s attention to the potential negative impacts of Work Choices, which he seems to think will be supportive of the small business tourism industry.

Let me turn to the appropriation bills before the House today and to a number of particular areas that reflect the feedback I have had in my local community since the budget was presented. Sadly, the story is not as optimistic for my electorate as for that of the member for Moncrieff. I want to highlight a few of the areas that give us some concern.

I point out to the House that what I will say is a reflection not just of my own views of the budget or those of my colleague the member for Throsby—our views might be argued to be partisan—but also of the views of the local business chamber and business organisations, who, in the local paper the day after the budget, reflected the fact that they thought it was a particularly disappointing budget. The reason they reflected those views was that their biggest issue concerns the skill shortage and the impact it is having on our region and its capacity to meet its potential. They felt—quite rightly, I believe—that the budget severely let them down in that area. They also reflected the fact that it was disappointing to see that some areas get road funding for roads that are identified as state roads, but in our area the Princes Highway, the perennial bridesmaid, was again overlooked.

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