Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

The truth of the matter is that it is a mixed bag around Australia. One of the huge successes is the work of the Queensland Minister for Tourism, Margaret Keech, who is well recognised in the industry and by Tourism Australia for doing the right thing by tourism in Queensland. She is not only seeking to promote domestic tourism but is also going out of her way to open up new opportunities internationally, in places such as Asia. She is also pursuing major new opportunities in the Middle East, which is exceptionally important to the member’s own seat on the Gold Coast of Queensland. I commend the activities of a range of tourism ministers in Australia, including Western Australia, where there have been substantial increases in tourism dollars, and the terrific campaign being put together by Jane Lomax-Smith, the South Australian tourism minister.

I also noticed at Tourism Australia’s recent awards in Sydney that Victoria, through the work of the previous minister, John Pandazopoulos, dominated the awards on that evening. With respect to the issue of New South Wales, obviously New South Wales rested on its laurels in the aftermath of the Sydney Olympics. It represented a failure by government and industry to actually grab opportunities that should have arisen as a result of the Sydney Olympics.

Irrespective of who wins the election this Saturday—and I am confident that the New South Wales Labor Party will win—it is a huge challenge to the new incoming minister and the tourism industry itself to review the structures that surround the operation of tourism in New South Wales and also put together a new funding package which is about not just the promotion of major events but also doing the right thing by key regional areas of tourism in New South Wales. I acknowledge that in Australia at a federal and state level there have been mixed results, but on balance the state Labor governments have actually done the right thing by tourism—that is, they have recognised, respected and supported the tourism industry Australia wide.

If anything is a huge question mark in the minds of a lot of people in the tourism industry, it would be the performance of the federal Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Fran Bailey, and weaknesses in respect of the Tourism Australia campaign. I think it is about time that we actually fronted up to the facts concerning the sluggishness of the tourism industry both domestically and internationally under the so-called leadership of the minister for tourism, Fran Bailey. Having said that, I welcome the opportunity to take questions from honourable members because the facts speak for themselves. The real question is the lack of leadership at a federal level from the minister and member for McEwen, Fran Bailey.

That takes me back to the issue of new and lucrative markets which are emerging. Let us take the issue of the Middle East market. That is not yet considered a key market for Tourism Australia. Certainly, it meets the criterion of high yield. Increasingly, tourist hubs across the world are welcoming large travelling groups from the Middle East which are cashed up and ready to spend up on quality tourism products. The number of Chinese tourists has also soared in recent years thanks to a relaxing of travel restrictions and a growing middle class that has a disposable income. Some parts of the industry consider China’s export tourism to be one of the most exciting opportunities of our times. China is fast consolidating its status as Asia’s largest outbound tourism market, with 30.5 million Chinese travelling abroad in 2006—a rise of 11 per cent on the 2005 figures.

I believe this presents Australia with enormous tourism potential, particularly as we are essentially on their back doorstep and can offer a tourism product that is unique when compared with other countries in South-East Asia. The latest tourism raw figures show that Australia attracted around 30,000 Chinese tourists to our shores, indicating vast opportunity for growth. Australia is positioned to be in the right place at the right time if we actually had some leadership at a government level and also a willingness on the part of industry to get more aggressive about their responsibilities to go out and grasp the opportunity that is in Asia.

The question is whether the minister for tourism will ensure that the Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern markets do not become a lost opportunity. To ensure that this opportunity is realised, current barriers need to be overcome. There has been industry concern that rogue operators—and it is the Queensland government Minister Margaret Keech who has actually led the attack on rogue operators—are specifically undermining the industry. This is of special concern to the South Korean and Chinese markets because, unfortunately, they see their people being exploited through a scam known as rentou. Queensland recently brought in an accreditation scheme to eliminate rentou operations as it saw it as such a serious threat to its $18 billion tourist industry. Amid revelations in the media of the presence of rogue tour operators ripping off Korean tourists visiting Australia, the opposition is calling on the government for stronger leadership in helping ministers such as the Queensland minister to clean up the industry.

Federal Labor has repeatedly called on greater federal leadership to address this serious issue that poses a real threat to our industry and to the 550,000 people employed in the industry. The industry’s integrity is placed on the line when media headlines, particularly in the international press, tell tales of unscrupulous tourist operators that take advantage of tourists on our shores, and the lack of federal government action in association with state ministers and the industry on this front is a serious concern. Rather than doing nothing, the federal government Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources—

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