Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset, I say to the member for Ryan, thank you for the question. He is a man very much in touch with his community. The fact is that 5.9 per cent of the total employment in his electorate comes from tourism, with some 4,272 people being employed in the tourism industry. Whilst that figure ranks two percentage points above the national average, it is below the Queensland average of 6.7 per cent. But because of the location of Ryan and its centres, such as the Indooroopilly shopping centre, in particular, it remains strong.

The member for Ryan has asked about the investment by this government in tourism. Over the next two years, $325 million will be invested by this government in tourism, and that is on the back of perhaps one of the most successful advertising campaigns for inbound tourism ever. Who would have thought that the simple statement, ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ would have had that effect on the international stage? We heard—and I know the member for Ryan was in attendance that day—Prime Minister Blair, who was so enthralled by the statement, raise it here in the House.

The member for Ryan also asked about other initiatives. In fact, we have decided to commit $3.9 million over four years to strengthen the Approved Destination Status scheme with China. I know of the fine work that the member for Ryan does with members of the Chinese community, promoting—and never denigrating—Australia at every opportunity. For that this country is grateful, and I know that people in his community are grateful to have China in the approved destination scheme. The approved destination scheme is a bilateral tourism arrangement between the Chinese government and foreign destinations, which allows approved countries to host Chinese groups of leisure tourists. In fact, in 1999 Australia and New Zealand became the first Western destinations to be granted approved destination status by China. The market in China is enormous. It is estimated that $7.1 billion in Chinese tourism exports can be achieved by this country by the year 2015.

As I said, the member for Ryan is an outstanding member of parliament. He works particularly hard in his community across all the issues in his electorate. It is a great joy to work with him.

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