Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously, COVID-19 has impacted many industries severely, and none more so than the travel industry, which has been feeling the effects of the pandemic from the very start and which will continue to suffer right up until international travel resumes sometime next year or, quite possibly, even later. For many travel agents, revenue is down more than 90 per cent, while new bookings are almost non-existent—plus they're now undertaking the difficult task of processing the estimated $10 billion worth of cancellations and refunds for an estimated four million Australians, even though the agents have lost their commissions for those bookings.

Yes, JobKeeper has thrown a lifeline to many businesses, but this won't be enough for an industry on its knees and with such dreadful prospects for another year and quite possibly longer. Surely an industry so deep in the red like this one warrants additional government assistance and warrants it urgently. And surely we as a country can do more to help people like the two travel agents from my electorate who I spoke with recently whose financials are now so bad that they're perilously close to losing everything. The solution here includes the federal government support package proposed by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, because, as AFTA rightly notes, without such support, further job losses and business closures are 'imminent and inevitable'.

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