Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I've been so flattered by the member for Leichhardt that I need to respond! I thank the member for Leichhardt, the other members of the committee and the committee secretariat for the work which has been undertaken. We do have a good, joking relationship, which works well in our committee. I have to say that the participation of all the committee members over the period of this inquiry has been exceptional and the work of the committee secretariat has been very, very good. But I do want to just emphasise some points which have been made by the member for Leichhardt.

There are tourism opportunities yet to be realised and that remain untapped in northern Australia. It's not because people don't have vision or planning; they don't have the resources and many of them don't have the capital to meet the needs that they have. But most important is the infrastructure efficiency, whether it's in roads, ports or airports. These are issues which the report canvasses and which need to be addressed.

The other issue which I wanted to highlight very briefly was the comments made by the member for Leichhardt on the Indian Ocean Territories, part of my electorate and a wonderful part of Australia. It is a part of Australia most Australians have no knowledge or experience of. I would say to them, if they get the opportunity to visit either Christmas Island or Cocos Islands or both, they would value that experience, learn a great deal and enjoy it because of the attractions that exist in those two places, which are unique in the context of Australia. The report addresses some of the impediments to tourism in those two communities and makes recommendations to address them.

I want to again highlight the issue around the casino on Christmas Island. This has been a bugbear for 20 years now. It should've been addressed some time ago. People need to be offered the opportunity to apply for a casino licence on Christmas Island to facilitate the development of the casino resort once again. It was a very good undertaking when it operated initially. Sadly, it fell on hard times, but it was very profitable and employed a lot of people. That would happen again in the future. The closing of the immigration detention facility on Christmas Island which has employed hundreds of locals, and, over the medium term, the closure of the mining operation on Christmas Island will mean that we need alternative options. The principal alternative option will be the tourism industry. I would suggest to those people who read this report: understand that we have very much at the front of our minds the opportunities that would exist in the Indian Ocean territories as a result of investment in tourism.

Lastly, not because it's a hierarchy of comment but because it is important, the issues related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement with the tourism ministry have also been canvassed in this report. Around 50 per cent of the landmass in Northern Australia is owned in one way or another by Aboriginal people, either through land rights or a native title, and therefore they need to be engaged more often than they currently are. There is no doubt that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people see opportunity in the tourism industry. What I would like to think is that we can facilitate their engagement with and the growth of the tourism industry through the recommendations in this report. I thank all of those who gave their submissions and who tolerated our presence when we visited their communities.

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