Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to make a contribution on the Tourism Australia Amendment Bill 2007. I think most honourable members would recognise that the tourism industry is one of the most vital industries in Australia and produces an incredible number of dollars towards benefiting our Australian economy and creating jobs.

The area I am privileged to represent in the Australian parliament, the central and southern Sunshine Coast, has tourism as one of its key industries. We welcome people from right around the country and right around the world who come to spend their dollars on the Sunshine Coast. One of our great challenges is the need for infrastructure and, with the population of the areas likely to double over the next 10 to 15 years, we always struggle to get the infrastructure to meet the needs of our rapidly growing population. That is why I am so pleased that the Australian government recognises the importance of growth areas like the Sunshine Coast and, I suppose you would also say, sea change communities.

Sea change communities are those communities that have a permanent population of a certain figure. We might have, say, 250,000 people living on the Sunshine Coast, but on any night of the year there might well be 350,000 heads on beds. Often the challenge for sea change communities is to attract government funded infrastructure to represent their actual populations rather than their permanent populations. The coast councils—the sea change community councils—have to provide infrastructure for the number of people who are in their communities at any one time, and I realise that that is an ongoing challenge for all members representing sea change communities. I think that Mr Neville, who is at the table, also represents a sea change community. Members on both sides of the House represent these communities, and obviously adequate funding for these communities will be a challenge regardless of which party is in the parliament. Tourism is a key driver for the Australian economy, not just for those economies in sea change communities, and contributes dramatically to Australia’s exports and gross domestic product.

The Tourism Australia Amendment Bill 2007 seeks to implement recommendations arising from the review of corporate governance arrangements of Tourism Australia. These amendments are part of the response by the government to Mr John Uhrig’s review of corporate governance of statutory authorities and office holders, which, as the explanatory memorandum points out, examined and reported on improving the structures and governance practices of such entities. I suppose that it is simply a fact of life these days that everyone expects government bureaucracy to be open and transparent and to follow best practice, and that is why this bill is doing a number of things to improve best practice for the tourism industry in Australia and for the organisation known as Tourism Australia.

We need proper corporate governance for Tourism Australia because of the absolutely vital role that tourism is playing in Australia and the important role that Tourism Australia is playing in encouraging people from right around the world—who have the right to choose where they visit—to visit this wonderful country, Australia. Earnings from tourism happen to be at record levels. International tourists spent $1.4 billion over 12 months in the year ending September 2006. I hate to think what situation the Australian economy would be in were this dominant industry absent.

International tourists are staying in Australia for longer periods. Given the geographic location of Australia it is understandable that tourists are staying longer, with the average length of a stay increasing by close to 12½ per cent or 3.3 days in the year ending September 2006. The longer that tourists stay in our country, the more dollars they spend, the more jobs are created and the more the economy is boosted.

Latest forecasts released by the Tourism Forecasting Committee estimate that total inbound economic value will grow at an average annual rate of 5.2 per cent, from $19.1 billion in 2005 to $31.6 billion in 2015. The strategy of the Minister for Small Business and Tourism and more generally of the government is to attract the high-yielding, long-staying experience seeker, and this is paying dividends—and I suspect that some of those might even find their way to your state of Tasmania, Mr Deputy Speaker Adams. When the results of the new international campaign are realised over the next 12 to 18 months, the outlook for tourism will be even brighter.

I think it is instructive for us to pause for a moment and look at the job creation opportunities resulting from the tourism industry. Over half a million Australians—550,100 Australians—are employed by the tourism industry. That represents one person in 18 in the Australian workforce. Nationally, tourism provides much higher direct employment than the mining industry and more than agriculture, forestry and fishing combined. It is also a very important employer of younger Australians. Of course, any industry that gives young Australians employment opportunities ought to be fostered and encouraged.

Studies by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that in March 2005 more than 35 per cent of employees in the accommodation, cafes and restaurants, and retail trade sectors were aged between 15 and 24, and that is more than double the all-industry average. Part-time positions in the tourism industry record even higher rates of young workers aged less than 25 years, with a high proportion of female employees. Overall the tourism industry accounts for about 10 to 11 per cent of total national employment in the 15- to 24-year-old age group, double its share of total employment of 5.6 per cent.

A lot of people ask: ‘How long has Tourism Australia been around? Does it do a good job? Why was it established?’ It was established as a key strategy in the tourism white paper, coupled with the biggest ever funding package for tourism of close to a quarter of a billion dollars—in fact, $235 million. The former minister, the honourable member for North Sydney, played a fairly key role in relation to this.

Tourism Australia is our window to the world. It is responsible for increasing the awareness, knowledge and desire of both local travellers and travellers from abroad to travel to and to travel throughout this wonderful nation of Australia. Research is conducted. In fact Tourism Australia likes to report on trends in international and domestic travel. It is pretty much the key player in the Australian tourism industry. It is the solid link that brings the tourism industry together. It encourages people to travel domestically from within Australia and it encourages people who make holiday choices from right around the world to choose to come to Australia. Mr Deputy Speaker, you may have seen some of the wonderful advertising campaigns that Tourism Australia runs overseas. Running a good campaign encourages people to travel to this country, and when they travel to this country as tourists they open their wallets and our economy is boosted and jobs are created.

I mentioned at the outset that the purpose of the Tourism Australia Amendment Bill 2007 is to improve the governance arrangements for Tourism Australia. That is not to say that Tourism Australia was not appropriately governed before, but of course we always need to be at the cutting edge of world’s best practice and this is why the government is responding, as far as Tourism Australia is concerned, to the recommendations of Mr John Uhrig. Tourism Australia really has done a wonderful job during the period since its inception. With the changes mentioned in this bill to improve the governance of Tourism Australia, this effective organisation will become even more effective.

Other honourable members have outlined the detailed amendments, but essentially the bill will remove the position of government member from the board; broaden ministerial power to terminate the appointment of board members; replace the process of ministerial approval of the corporate plan and operational plan with one of endorsement, while maintaining that the plans do not come into force until ministerial endorsement is received; and reduce the threshold for ministerial approval of contracts from $5 million to $3 million. I think that is important. Given the importance of this industry, I think it is vital that the minister does have the capacity to become more involved when a lower dollar figure is indeed the figure that is relevant.

The amendments will improve the governance arrangements. The changes do not in any way, shape or form alter the general structure, the general function or the general objectives of Tourism Australia or the delivery of excellent service it provides both to Australia and abroad. As you would expect, Mr Deputy Speaker, the bill also includes some transitional arrangements just to make sure that when these changes provided for in this bill are actually implemented there is not any disruption to the operations of Tourism Australia. This is an important bill that seeks to make a wonderful Australian organisation even better. Any bill that will help Tourism Australia attract more people to this country and encourage more people to holiday within Australia is an important bill, and I am very pleased to be able to commend it to the Main Committee in the debate today.

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