Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Bowen amendment supporting the Senate amendments, which have finally come. After a decision that was announced in the May 2015 budget, we are here now at the end of November, more than 18 months later, actually debating the legislation that has finally been determined by the Senate over there. What the Senate determined was consistent with the consultation that we have had on this side between the member for Hunter, looking after the agricultural sector, and myself, looking after the interests of tourism. Both of those sectors are vitally important to the future of our national economy. They are vitally important for jobs, particularly in regional Australia.

Since the election, I have travelled around and had roundtables in Hobart, in Darwin, in Alice Springs and in Cairns. All of those communities rely upon a seasonal workforce, particularly in places like northern Australia, where the tourism season is not 12 months long. Tourism activity in places like Broome and Cairns relies upon seasonal workers, just like the agricultural sector does due to the nature of agricultural production.

What we had here was an announcement in a budget without any economic modelling, without any consultation with the sector and without thinking through the economic implications of this. So, instead of actually getting taxation paid by backpackers, they were getting backpackers not coming and therefore not just losing taxation revenue in terms of income tax but losing corporate tax, losing that economic dividend that comes from economic activity. But those opposite dug in for more than a year—the rest of 2015 passed by; the 2016 budget came and went. The election campaign came and went. The member for Hunter and I were out there day after day, along with members in Tasmania and other regional members, talking about the impact that this was having in their communities, and they ignored it.

But, finally, during the election campaign, they announced a review. Then they announced a deferral. Still, we did not see a substantial proposal from the government until they sat down with the NFF, and the NFF—my goodness me, you would not want to be in a trench with them—got thrown a couple of carrots, said, 'Thank you very much,' rolled over and failed to continue to represent their constituency.

I am pleased that the Tourism and Transport Forum and the other sectors—Qantas, Virgin and AFTA—continued to put forward the argument not just about this but about its being compounded by the farcical situation of repeating the process that occurred on the backpacker tax for the increase in the passenger movement charge. Just two weeks after, the tourism minister stood up here and said that increases to the PMC were choking the golden goose that was the tourism industry. He showed himself to be a goose by having this proposal introduced.

Again, we sat down with the Department of the Treasury and the Treasurer's office. We asked them for the economic modelling—there wasn't any; they had no consultation with the sector whatsoever. Then last night, of course, they brought on a vote in the Senate and lost it. Today they brought on another vote in the Senate, a recommittal, and they stuffed it up as well, because they were still doing deals in the corner of the Senate over no tax increase for five years into the future, just after the same people promised at the election campaign in July that there would not be an increase. This is what the deal they did with One Nation was, but of course that has been knocked over procedurally as well, and they have got to recommit it and fix all that up as well. This is a bad— (Time expired)

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