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

I am speaking on this motion to support travel agents because it's time for Scott Morrison to wake up—to wake up to the fact that travel agents are doing it hard. I am, like every federal member of parliament, getting inundated by calls from travel agents, travel agencies and tour operators, especially, but not only, from those who deal in international travel.

JobKeeper, which the Morrison government introduced for travel agents, is a good thing. I'm not here to have a Liberal versus Labor tit-for-tat. But come 31 March there is a crisis. The iceberg is going to hit the travel agency industry and tens of thousands of people agents, predominantly women and predominantly small businesses, are about to hit that iceberg, and the travel scheme that the government announced with much fanfare isn't working the way it should. It's red tape, too long and, because of the different accounting standards used within the travel agent industry, some people are getting decent support but a lot of others are missing out.

What I want to do in parliament when I speak to Mr Morrison on behalf of travel agents is to use not my voice but the voices of the travel agents. I was just on the phone to a lovely travel agent before coming up here. She was in tears today because she has to retrench two of her six staff. She employs women, and this is a business which has been going for 17 years. She said: 'I don't understand why it's so cruel. I have to lay them off now as my directors duty, because I don't know if JobKeeper is going to continue.' How is it that we can be so cruel to our travel agents? If the government is going to continue JobKeeper after 31 March then just tell people! Just tell people now. And if they're not going to then they need to wake up to themselves.

The travel agents I speak to have recovered billions of dollars for their customers and their clients. That's right—billions of dollars. Since March and February of last year, when COVID hit and the international borders slammed shut, Australians had billions of dollars of holiday bookings. And it hasn't been the government chasing the money, it hasn't been the sheriff's office chasing the money and it hasn't been Mr Morrison chasing the money for the customers, it's been travel agents. What is particularly cruel is that when they get the money back they of course have to refund their commissions in many cases.

What we have today, right now, is 40,000 people on the phones in their lounge rooms, because their landlords wouldn't extend their rent. They have had to give up their super and they've had to negotiate all sorts of difficult payments, and every day they are chasing refunds for clients. So whilst travel has stopped, he travel agency industry hasn't stopped.

Sometimes in politics, it's not a matter of left or right, Labor or Liberal. Sometimes it's just a matter of right and wrong. What's happening to travel agents is wrong. I don't understand why the government can't see what needs to be done here. Until international borders are opened again, travel agents should get JobKeeper, in my opinion. Until we don't have states slamming up the borders and slamming down the border, we need to have JobKeeper. We need a travel scheme which actually reflects that there are four different ways that the accounting industry calculate total turnover in the travel agency industry, which is the sweet spot for getting some government support. I just say to the government: this is not a matter of who's right and opposition or government; this is a matter of travel agents.

I want to give you some words from people. One lady has written: 'We have had volcanos to deal with and we've had tsunamis. We have no complaints. But this is an issue which now the government needs to help us on.' Another lady has written to be and said: 'Since international border closures, I have been working at least 30 hours a week, seven days a week handling cancellations and trying to obtain refunds. I have utilised all my superannuation to survive and loans which have to be repaid to family and friends. I need JobKeeper to continue.' A travel agent said: 'I attended a Fight Cancer Foundation charity lunch the other day. It's normally held in December. Eighty travel agents attended the lunch. You can cut the anxiety with a knife.'

The travel agents industry and tour operators feel deserted. They feel deserted and let down by their government. They feel they have been thrown on the garbage heap. They feel that perhaps the government thinks it can go online or travel agents are a thing of the past. We're not going to have overseas travel recovery until we back our travel agents. Please wake up Mr Morrison, and save our travel agents.

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