Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise in support of the Tourism Australia Amendment Bill 2007 and to acknowledge the amendment that has been put forward by the shadow minister, the member for Batman. Whilst I am not supportive of the amendment that he has put forward, it is very clear that tourism certainly is an exceptionally important industry to the Australian economy. I share some of the sentiments of not only the member for Batman but also a large number of government MPs. As someone who has the pleasure of representing Australia’s premier tourism destination—the fabulous Gold Coast—I am pleased to be a strong advocate for the needs of the Australian tourism industry. We know that across the country tourism employs over 550,000 people and accounts for $17 billion to $18 billion of export income, in addition to the domestic tourism spend—all of which means that the tourism industry is a most significant player in the Australian economy.

I have been very proud of the Howard government’s track record when it comes to tourism. Under the Howard government we saw the introduction of the tourism white paper, a monumental and significant step forward, ensuring that the tourism industry went from almost being a cottage industry of sorts to an even more progressive, functional, sophisticated and efficient industry in an Australian context.

When it comes to marketing Australia abroad, we know that Tourism Australia is the key driver of our success in making sure not only that we create and develop perceptions about what Australia is in the eyes of foreigners but also that we convert the aspirations of many people around the world to visit Australia into reality and that they come along and visit this great nation. We as Australians have a right to feel justifiably proud of this great country we live in. We as Australians have a right to feel justifiably proud of our Australian culture. If tourism is distilled to its most basic elements, we know that it is the desire of those who live abroad to travel to Australia and experience what it is like to be in Australia and to be an Australian, albeit for a short period.

This bill ensures that Tourism Australia is brought into line more closely with the recommendations of the Uhrig report. The Uhrig report looked at corporate governance with respect to agencies such as Tourism Australia. I do not intend to dwell on the recommendations, but clearly this bill incorporates a number of those. Most particularly, it does two key things—that is, it removes from the board of Tourism Australia a government representative and thereby prevents as much as possible conflicts of interest, and instils greater independence in the Tourism Australia board. It also makes some changes with respect to the threshold for reporting to the tourism minister the approval of contracts that Tourism Australia enters into. In both of these respects, these are smart steps forward that are consistent with the Uhrig report and are also consistent with the industry’s desire for best practice.

Having said all of these things, I must now focus for a short while on comments that have been made by the shadow tourism minister. The only response that I can make on the position that has been put forward by the Australian Labor Party is: where have they been? Where have the Australian Labor Party been when it comes to tourism? I have been sitting in the House of Representatives for about 5½ years and I think I could count on one hand the number of times that the Australian Labor Party have stood up to ask a question of the tourism minister about the tourism industry. In the life of this particular parliament, the member for Batman has been missing in action. I cannot recall the member for Batman having ever asked a question of the tourism minister.

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