Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every single electorate across this country has travel agents who go about their business every day and try to help Australians realise their ambitions and their dreams. There are of course many Australians who dream about owning their own home. There are Australians who want to retire with dignity. But people also want and dream about the opportunity to travel overseas as part of the choices they have in their life, and travel agents are a part of fulfilling that. But, of course, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many travel agents have been brought to the precipice because of the simple fact that when we have international border closures it is almost impossible for anybody to book with confidence or to be able to make decisions about where they're going to be in only a few short months. To take myself as a classic example of this, I had booked a trip to Queensland at the end of this month, but the lockdown in Victoria has seen the end of that. Then there are the people who wanted to go overseas throughout all of last year, as well as those who are returning home.

The government understand why it has been so critical to support travel agents throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We've provided assistance and support through the JobKeeper scheme, which has been enjoyed by many businesses, but we also understood the specific need for targeted measures to support the travel agent sector. We have $128 million from the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program, announced on 1 December 2020, that provides one-off grants for up to $100,000 to help travel agents continue to operate and process refunds for consumers. Those refunds have been a big burden on the travel agent sector. It is one of the reasons why, when we had the head of the ACCC, Rod Sims, before the House Standing Committee on Economics in October last year, we got him to formally state publicly that travel agents are entitled to take a share of the booking as part of a cancellation fee, so that every travel agent understood that they had choices and that they had options while protecting consumers, particularly in terms of the challenges they face with their cash flow. But that doesn't negate the fact that, because international borders continue to remain closed, travel agents need support.

On 16 September last year, I met with the Australian Federation of Travel Agents as well as many travel agencies within the Goldstein electorate. We are an electorate that has a lot of retirees, who use part of their retirement planning to plan to travel overseas and see the world in a way that they may not have been able to do during their working life, as part of their choice in their retirement. The travel agencies were clear about the impact they were continuing to experience.

Many of these businesses have been built up over decades. There are small businesses in the Goldstein electorate—and I'm sure in many members' electorates—where there are skills and expertise that has been built up over decades to build travel agencies which the communities are rightfully proud of. There is the point of trust and credibility. Yes, we can all get information on the internet, but it's about the integrity, trust and reliability, and the personal experience and skill set in understanding, what happens in different locations—making sure that customers have a full range of options, insurance and protection—that travel agencies embody. That's why they're so critical. It's also because they employ a very large number of older workers in the latter stages of their career—particularly women. Often, they have particular expertise from their own travel and experience to be able to guide customers.

That's why the Morrison government has provided so much support through the Consumer Travel Support Program, to make sure that we have the back of travel agents through JobKeeper. We know that there are specific measures and support needed for the travel sector. That's because it's only travel agencies which have those skills within them which consumers rely on, which we want to have at the end of this pandemic, so that Australians who need to travel overseas can access the support services they need. The good thing is that $60 million has already been provided and paid for under this program. As of 1 February this year, 1,541 travel agents have received payments and another 1,003 are being processed right now.

So if you're in the travel agent sector, we know you're doing it tough. We know you need support and assistance, and that's why we've provided it. The Morrison government understands the challenges faced by small business. The people in this place are doing everything they can to support them in these difficult times.

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