Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the question from one of Labor’s strong regional representatives. When I look along the table this evening I can see which party represents regional Australia today: the member for Lyons, a long-serving and outstanding member; the new member for Flynn—the seat could not have a better advocate; and welcome back to the member for Braddon, a very strong advocate for regional Australia.

Madam Deputy Speaker, as you and I appreciate, the member for Leichhardt is a voice of reason in representing that very important northern seat of Queensland. He also well appreciates that it is a seat that, whilst it has a lot of diversity in terms of employment, is highly dependent on the tourism industry—an industry that Australia-wide represents over 480,000 people directly employed, an industry that represents  $22 billion in terms of export earnings. But it is also especially important to the state of Queensland, where more than 100,000 people are directly employed in the industry and it accounts for 5.6 per cent of all persons employed. It is also interesting to note that it contributes $8.1 billion to the Queensland economy and it accounts for 5.6 per cent of Queensland’s gross state product.

It is for that reason that last Wednesday I attended a meeting in Queensland to sit down in a constructive way with the state Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry and member for Cairns, Desley Boyle, and representatives of Queensland Tourism, in association with Tourism Australia, to have a hard think about where we go in a very tough market from a tourism perspective. The tourism industry in Australia at the moment is doing it very tough. As the member for Groom appreciates, we have to struggle against what in this industry is a tough issue—the strength of the dollar. That means in markets historically important to Australia, such as Japan, we are actually seeing declining numbers, because not only is it more expensive for the Japanese to come to Australia but we are also competing with short-haul, cheaper overseas holidays for people from Japan.

Added to that recent problem—which is in addition to all the problems of skilled labour due to the neglect of the previous government, who actually failed to invest in training—we now have what is a global oil crisis. In the last 12 months the cost of jet fuel has doubled. That has effectively meant—and, whilst we do not like the decisions, it is the nature of commercial reality—Qantas and Virgin in recent weeks have made tough decisions with respect to the reduction of regional airline capacity. The latest announcement today was made by QantasLink regarding changes in airline capacity in Mildura, Newcastle and Wollongong. For that reason, because northern Queensland was exceptionally hard hit, we sat down with the Queensland government. We contributed $4 million, in association with a contribution from the Queensland government of another $4 million, to try to put proper money on the table.

We also undertook for Tourism Australia to work with Queensland Tourism to think through a strategy which is not only about trying to, I suppose, stop the erosion of the Japanese market but about turning it around and about getting North Queensland to actually look at new markets, such as the growth potential of places such as China and India. I simply want to say that the Australian government, working in partnership with business, will do everything possible to assist in turning it around, because we understand the importance of the sector to Northern Queensland.

I say to the member for Leichhardt: thanks for your assistance. I think the people of Cairns are very fortunate to have you as their voice of reason. You understand the tourism industry and have the willingness to work to get through this period. Tourism has been through similar periods in the past. I think back to events since I have been in parliament: September 11, the collapse of Ansett soon after, the threat of SARS and terrorism and all those associated issues. It is a robust industry and, because of the absolute commitment and contribution of a lot of small and medium sized businesses, we will get through this challenge yet again.

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