Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

In speaking on this amendment to the Economic Recovery Package (JobMaker Hiring Credit) Amendment Bill 2020, having just gone through 14 days quarantine and 100 or so days before then under a restricted lockdown in Melbourne, what is most important for COVID-19 recovery in my electorate in Melbourne, Victoria, and nationally, is jobs. It has all got to be about jobs, jobs and more jobs—that is, saving jobs, training jobs, creating jobs and looking after the people who have lost their jobs.

Labor led the debate by calling for wage subsidies at the beginning of the pandemic to support vulnerable workers, businesses and communities. We've been calling for broader labour market programs to encourage job creation and to kickstart recovery. There is one task of this government: to help COVID-19 recovery. And in Victoria COVID-19 is not past tense. It is something affecting five million of my fellow Melburnians right now.

We've pointed out deficiencies in the JobKeeper subsidy, and we continue to. What on earth did early childhood educators in Melbourne ever do to deserve this government cutting off their JobKeeper? There are too many people who have been left out by the rules, such as casuals, and too many people left behind, such as people who might have started a company founded within 12 months of COVID-19. The cliff coming in December and the further cliff emerging in March make many people afraid.

But, in speaking to this amendment, I want to talk about one group of people. If they are not the hardest hit, no other group is any harder hit. I talk about the small and medium-size businesses of the travel agency sector. They've been terribly hard hit in Australia, in Victoria and in my electorate of Maribyrnong and they are concerned that, without proper, targeted support, it will be the death knell for their businesses. I listen to this government sickeningly regurgitate a claim to be the party of small business, but I hear them not talk about travel agents. If it was Helloworld, maybe, but as a general rule the travel agency sector—we've heard about them, haven't we, over there in the government? If it was the travel agency sector more generally, they have been ignored.

I recently met with a group of travel agents from my own electorate and Mr Darren Rudd of AFTA, their peak body. They made the directness of their plight very plain emotionally, truthfully, factually, painfully. Let's consider how the travel agency industry was travelling even just a year ago, with 12 years of consecutive growth, helping Australians travel for commerce, culture, leisure, family, friends and fun. Travel agents in Australia employ 40,000 Australians in metro and regional locations. Thirty thousand of the employees in the travel agency sector are women. They are the fabric of each community. They sponsor the local clubs and the local high street traders. They are part of our landscape.

But let's have a look at what's happened to the industry since COVID has struck. The federal government rightly closed the borders eventually to save Australian lives—right call. But, of course, in doing so, they closed the ability of travel agents who deal in international travel to make an income. Australians cancelled $10 billion worth of travel where funds were sitting offshore with suppliers like airlines, cruise lines, tour operators and wholesalers. The refund machine—a machine that has only ever been designed to go one way—had to be put into reverse. Of the $10 billion in refunds the travel agents have spent their working days getting back, they've managed to get $6 billion back to the people who paid for their holidays at a time when no-one was paying them. There's still a further $4 billion to get back for Australians. But, in giving back this refund, the travel agent invariably has been asked to give back not only the price of the ticket but the income in the form of the commission. So the travel agent has the sunk cost. That is what the commissions paid for. It pays the rent. It pays the bills. But, in getting the refund, it's all had to go back, so the travel agent has been getting back the money not only for the portion of the holiday which hasn't been utilised but their own portion and refunding it. The federal budget assumes that travel won't recommence internationally until the last quarter of 2021.

Let me put this story very directly. In the travel agency sector, payroll is down, hours are down, unemployment is up, international sales are dead, job ads in the industry are down and the mortgages that people working in the travel agency industry have to pay still have to be paid. The rent which travel agents have to pay for offices or franchises still has to be paid. I met with AFTA, and they have asked for sector-specific funding in the form of grants—a 12-month bridge back to business of $250 million plus concessional loans. That's AFTA's ask. The government will have to work out if they can afford it, which I suspect they can.

But let's talk about what the government hasn't done properly for travel agents whilst taking the credit and saying they're the friend of small business. The loss carryback provision in the budget will help only 14 per cent of the large travel agents, but that's not until next year. Bad luck if you are a travel agent who is a unit trust, a family trust, a sole trader or, indeed, a partnership. AFTA estimates that there are 1,300 travel agents who are sole traders. There is nothing for them in this. Many have made losses last year and this year. The peak body of travel agents predicts: 'If no funding is provided, special sector assistance, we will lose over 50 per cent of our valuable travel agents, including 15,000 women from the sector who will lose jobs.' This, of course will lead to a flow-on for Australian consumers and travellers. You might remember that there is still $4 billion in refunds to claw back. And if the travel agents can't keep their doors opened, can't employ staff, that's $4 billion gone for Australian mums and dads, pensioners and holiday-makers. This will leave Australian consumers out of pocket tremendously. It is not as if the government is going to get this money back for them; it's been hard enough to get them to bring Australians back. So if you've paid for a holiday, good luck getting that out of the government!

Some of the travel agents in my electorate have stories that are worth hearing. One said to me: 'Bill, in the 21 years that I've managed and owned a business, I've employed many Victorians. I've taken people straight from school. I've taken on an accountant who discovered her passion for travel at 50. I've even had several of my staff leave and open their own businesses, all travel agencies from the same franchise. I've paid tax every year and I've paid it in full and on time. I've paid my staff leave entitlements fairly and always on time. I've looked after my staff because without them I have nothing. In my team, three of us receive JobKeeper and two do not. If it were not for JobKeeper, there would be three more people looking for work. Although I have to be honest: as the JobKeeper rate is about to drop, I'm now considering, for the first time in 21 years, looking for a job. Yes, I receive JobKeeper. I don't get any of it. It tops up one of my worker's wages and it pays superannuation for her and another worker. It pays for the phone and the internet to keep us connected. It pays for our reservation system so we can keep cancelling flights for our clients and keep records of what we've cancelled. It pays for the bank fees on my overdraft, which has $3 in it for me to draw on. It pays the EFTPOS monthly fee. My JobKeeper pays for my bookkeeper, although not my accountant. That's a concern because I need to have my company financials done. It does not pay my rent, the outgoings. It does not pay me a wage.'

Another travel agent wrote: 'Our sector has been very hard hit. With a 90 to 100 per cent loss of turnover, and having to refund most of our income, it is disheartening that the federal budget has not addressed the travel sector. Many industries have been hit hard. JobKeeper, tax cuts and the Victorian business grants have been very welcome and saved many businesses in the short term with their broad measures. Many sectors that have been able to continue in the last six months will be able to trade again in the coming months as we hopefully come out of restrictions and lockdown. But the travel sector, which includes travel agents, tour wholesalers and tour operators, has been one of, if not the, hardest hit. We been denied the ability to trade and due to ACCC regulations we have to pay back most of our income.' That's the commissions they have to pay back. 'We were the first industry hit in late January 2020. It will take years to recover, yet we are expected to chase refunds and credits on behalf of our clients, and trade with zero income. The airline aviation sector has received specific funding. So has retail, hospitality and tourism. But we're the travel sector.'

And the stories go on. Another travel agent wrote to me: 'While JobKeeper has helped me offset some of the impact, the reality is that I simply don't have the losses in financial year 2020 to make the loss carryback provisions meaningful. This is because I did the responsible thing as a business owner and moved, immediately on the closure of the international border, to reduce as many of our overheads as possible. Additionally, not only has income been severely reduced, but the travel sector is the only industry that's had to give back last year's earnings in the form of commission.'

This is why the travel industry deserves some support. Their particular payment structure means they've had to pay back not just the unused portion of the holidays but also their own commissions. People are desperate. They're getting knocked back. I think we need to be creative in this space to keep the sector alive. I've spoken with Labor's shadow minister for tourism, Don Farrell, who rightly believes the government can do much more in this space. And it's not just an issue for the federal government. State governments, local governments and any federal bodies should use domestic travel agencies, not multinationals. Governments should assist travel agents to change their business focus from international to domestic travel. The Australian Tourism Commission needs to redouble its efforts, refocusing on domestic travel.

Senator Birmingham is doing finance and he's doing trade—busy man. He can't afford for tourism to be the unloved, forgotten child here. It needs more attention—perhaps a promotion for the minister at the desk. Let's get someone to give tourism more attention. State and territory governments need to ensure that travel voucher schemes work for agents. They do in the Northern Territory but not in South Australia. Again, I must stress, and this is not just a federal issue, where governments are using travel platforms—Expedia and the like—perhaps we could use domestic travel platforms. And if they don't exist, we could work with the Federation of Travel Agents to help give work to domestic travel agents—not extra money, but just using our money smarter.

I was quite moved when I met the travel agents. Some of them fell into travel agency work coming out of school. For some it was their first job and it's remained a lifelong passion. Others have started businesses. They're all very committed to their staff. If you close your eyes, you can't think of a single shopping centre or high street in the nation which doesn't have a travel agent. They do their work. They turn people's dreams into memories and experiences. Now is not the time for spin. It is the time for substance. I think the fairly haphazard, ramshackle approach taken by the government belies their real priorities.

We need a good JobKeeper scheme. There's nothing wrong with telling people what's going to happen to them next year rather than keeping them waiting until December. That's just cruel. What's wrong with recognising that the economic implication in certain industries is going to continue long past March of next year?

We all like our holidays. We all like our travel. I think it's come as a shock to multiple generations of Australians that we can't simply get on a plane and go somewhere. But I think it will also come as a shock if, when the borders reopen internationally, we don't have anyone to help organise our trips and our memories. We can go to work every day, and what we do is important, but the things that our families remember in our working lives will be the holidays that week take them on, not necessarily the minutes we took or the meetings we attended.

These travel agents, these small and medium sized businesses, deserve imagination. They deserve passion. They deserve a bespoke approach. They deserve respect. Forty-thousand people who helped make the rest of us have a much more enjoyable quality of life. Let us, who have benefited from the travel agency industry, not abandon the travel agency industry, because certainly if we booked with them they wouldn't do that to us.

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