Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am certainly pleased to rise to speak to the motion that the shadow minister for tourism, Mr Baldwin, has moved that this House, among a number of other things, essentially condemns the Gillard Labor government for its refusal to take Australia’s tourism industry seriously and, worse than that, for the fact that the Australian tourism industry under the four years that the Labor Party has been in power has suffered as poor policy decision after poor policy decision has taken effect.

In the previous parliament I had the unique privilege of being the shadow tourism minister. I have the genuine privilege of representing the part of Australia that is referred to as Australia’s premier holiday playground—that, of course, being Australia’s Gold Coast, a city of around 500,000 people. My electorate of Moncrieff has one of the highest percentages of population reliant on the tourism industry as their principal source of employment in the country. Tourism drives hundreds of millions of dollars, indeed billions of dollars, of investment in my city. Australia’s tourism industry is one of the nation’s great employers. It employs nearly 500,000 Australians, it is an industry worth around $86 billion and it generates around $24 billion of exports. It is the very kind of industry that we as a nation should be embracing, fostering and nurturing to ensure that it continues to drive export income for this nation, continues to create employment pathways for young Australians and continues to showcase Australia to the world.

That is the aspiration. It comes off a long period of great success by the former coalition government when we invested, after a number of policy decisions and a number of budgets, large amounts of funding and provided support and incentives to and nurturing of the Australian tourism industry to help it achieve great outcomes. It was the previous coalition government that brought about, in large measure, one the greatest outcomes for the tourism industry: the development and implementation of a tourism white paper. That white paper, under the former Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Joe Hockey, provided the opportunity for Australia’s tourism industry to capitalise on its potential. It saw investment by government into all manner of new product, into new pathways for the commercialisation of product and, in addition to that, into real opportunities to increase Australia’s tourism marketing spend, domestically and globally, to capitalise on the huge demand that exists to understand Australia and Australians.

That is where we have come from, but in the four short years that the Labor Party has been in power it has turned its back on Australia’s tourism industry. There is no doubt that for all the talk—and the Labor Party is big on talk—about tourism being a vital industry to country the Australian Labor Party has done nothing except put roadblocks in the way of Australia’s tourism industry. I know members opposite like to claim they support Australia’s tourism industry, but if that is truly the case why was it that in its first budget the Australian Labor Party took a number of policy positions that not only made it substantially more difficult for Australia’s tourism industry to prosper but in fact, as a direct consequence, deteriorated its position? In particular, it was under the former Rudd government, now the Gillard Labor government, that a host of new taxes and tax increases were imposed on the tourism industry.

Let me put this in the context of the global downturn. We know that the Australian dollar is basically at parity with the US dollar and that the Australian dollar has been rising consistently for a number of years. Despite the fact that for every cent the Australian dollar rises Australia’s tourism industry, when it comes to the export of tourism, is less competitive, the government have done nothing to assist the tourism industry. In fact, they have done worse than nothing. In a previous budget, the Labor government cut funding for Australia’s principal tourism marketing body, Tourism Australia, by some $13½ million in real terms. They have actually cut the amount of money made available to the national tourism body to market Australia abroad. In addition, the Labor government introduced a host of industrial relations reforms that have made it more expensive for young Aussies to get a start in the tourism industry and for employers to take the risk of employing new staff. Under the award modernisation process that this government put in place, as a direct consequence of what is effectively ridiculous award processes, there is a requirement to pay penalty rates. Under this government’s regime, in its first iteration, that would have seen penalty rates applying after 7 pm for restaurant workers. This government has made Australia’s tourism industry less competitive. The people who pay the price are the young Australians who, ordinarily, would get a job in the tourism industry. The people who pay a price are those employers who would risk their capital—

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Work Choices again, is it? Back to Work Choices!

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

those people who would take the opportunity to actually employ staff. It is quite pathetic to hear Labor Party members yelling out: ‘Work Choices, Work Choices.’ The truth is that, with respect to Australia’s tourism industry, Work Choices never did to the potential of young Australians what the Labor Party is doing to them now. To all of those businesses that no longer open on a Sunday, to all those businesses that now close their doors early during the week, to all those businesses that have fewer staff on the books because of the penalty rates they have to pay, sure, the Labor Party can say to those who still have a job: ‘We’ve looked after you.’ But there are now so many more people who simply do not have a job.

I have someone in my own electorate who is part of the tourism industry. He is a cafe owner—he is actually an immigrant—who used to open seven days a week, but who now closes on Sundays because, as he said to me, it is simply uneconomic for him to open as a direct consequence of the new penalty rates. In that one cafe, in my electorate, six staff have lost their employment on a Sunday as a direct consequence of the new penalty rates. That is but one example. What is clear, though, is that this is a government which, when it comes to tourism policy, is just like a cork on the ocean, bobbing and blowing in each and every direction. It is not really the focus of the Minister for Tourism. He has been completely preoccupied for a number of years with the Resources and Energy portfolio. Perhaps that lay behind the decision of the current Gillard Labor government to have a quasi tourism minister in the form of the new outer ministry tourism minister.

In addition to this lack of actual policy direction when it comes to the tourism industry, we on this side of the House recognise a missed opportunity—a massive missed opportunity to invest more money into developing Australia’s tourism industry. The coalition took to the last election a tourism policy that actually would have seen the investment of an additional $100 million in Australia’s tourism industry, with a specific focus on business events tourism. That is the highest yielding part of the Australian tourism industry—a real job creator, a real export earner and a part of the tourism industry that Australia has a huge competitive advantage in. With the creation of the policy that we took to the last election and with the actual application of that policy, had we been in government, I have no doubt that we would have created thousands of jobs, created incentives for tens of thousands of additional tourists to come to this country and created a very high-yielding, generally longer term stay Australian tourism industry.

The simple inescapable reality is that members opposite are unable to actually stand and enunciate what Labor’s tourism policy is. For all intents and purposes, it has only been status quo. For a brief moment we had a lot of focus coming from the Labor Party about their long-term tourism strategy but, apart from the creation of a few interdepartmental committees and a couple of new committees that have been appointed by the minister, not a single dollar of funding has flowed as a result of the long-term tourism strategy. There have been no new initiatives with respect to the rollout beyond, as I said, the creation of some bodies and, as a consequence, the Australian tourism industry is poorer.

This has been, unfortunately, a very sad chapter of lost opportunity. It has been a sad chapter of a government that refuses to invest in one of the largest job creators and one of the principal export industries that our nation has. And, above all, this has been four long years of massive missed opportunity for Australia’s tourism industry to rise up, create employment, create export income and, for that reason, I support the motion. (Time expired)

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the motion, moved by the member for Paterson. I do so because Australia’s tourism industry continues to enjoy strong support from this government. The tourism industry is a significant part of the Australian economy. It provides jobs in metropolitan areas, regional areas, remote areas and places where people live, including in the Hindmarsh electorate, which I represent.

Many visitors to SA arrive first in my electorate—almost 550,000 domestic and 44,000 international passengers a month pass through Adelaide airport, which is smack bang in the middle of my electorate of Hindmarsh. Visitors to South Australia support 77,000 jobs and contribute $2.3 billion to the South Australian economy.

Glenelg and the coastline from Somerton Park right through to Semaphore South, Tennyson, West Beach and Grange—all those beachside suburbs—all form part of my electorate. Of course, they are Adelaide’s iconic tourism destinations, with visitors making big contributions to the local community.

Glenelg, one particular suburb, is just one example of a number of tourism regions across Australia which are marketed not just by the local businesses but by the local councils, the state tourism organisations and Tourism Australia. It is a region that is supported by the Gillard government’s implementation of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy. This strategy builds on stronger research foundations and it encourages further tourism investment in infrastructure and new products.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How?

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member opposite asks, ‘How?’ and we will come to that. Local communities like Glenelg can continue to benefit from the tourism dollar. The Labor government has done its bit by retaining tourism marketing and funding for tourism across Australia across the forward estimates.

But that is not the half of it. Australian governments, excluding local councils, spend more than $500 million annually on tourism marketing. This directly contributes to the strength of our tourism industry, an industry which grew by 3.2 per cent in 2010 to contribute an extra $34 billion to Australia’s GDP. The tourism industry has received direct relief and recovery support as a result of the Queensland floods and cyclone, including an exclusive sector-specific $10 million tourism support package—$5 million has been provided by the federal government and $5 million by the Queensland government.

The majority of the funds will be used to support immediate marketing initiatives to reinforce the message that the majority of Queensland’s iconic tourism destinations are open for business, and to counter negative perceptions resulting from that extensive national and international reporting of the floods and Cyclone Yasi. A proportion will also be spent on industry development measures.

And let us not forget that industry benefits from the extensive Commonwealth government support provided beyond Tourism Australia. This government has committed $660 million to improve workforce skills, education and training. This is an area that was absolutely neglected by the previous government, and this will benefit the 500,500 people directly employed in tourism. The employers in the sector have also benefited from improvements to workplace relations laws. After over 100 years of fragmented workplace relations laws this government has delivered a single national system for around 96 per cent of the private sector, and that includes tourism. That was done by reducing almost 4,000 complex outdated awards into 122 modern instruments. We have provided a net benefit to Australian businesses of around $4.83 billion over the 10 years.

Through our $660 million investment, the Gillard government recognises the tourism industry’s need for a highly skilled and educated workforce. Developing the workforce is at the very heart of this government’s plan to build an economy that will meet the challenges of the future. Skilling the nation’s workforce and addressing any emerging skill shortages are critical to Australia’s prosperity in the long term. That is why this government is boosting the skills of Australians and has embarked on one of the most ambitious reform agendas to reshape the apprentice and training sector. Perhaps we would not be in this position had the former government actually done something about skilling Australia’s workforce.

To achieve this, the government is investing heavily in the skills of the current and future workforce by providing practical help—

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why did you take chefs off the skilled workers list?

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the crossbench is being a bit unhelpful.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to ensure Australians get the skills that they need for the jobs of tomorrow. Our investment will underwrite our future prosperity as a nation and provide individual Australians with the opportunities to realise their very full potential. This is in stark contrast to the coalition, who for a decade, as I said earlier, failed to invest in the skills that our nation needed. This government is getting on with the job.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you still talking about tourism?

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member opposite asks if I am talking about the tourism industry. I certainly am. We do not have the skilled workforce to fill positions in those jobs where skills are in short supply because of the neglect of the coalition government over 10 years. The tourism industry also has benefited from the $8.5 billion we have committed for nationally significant transport infrastructure, which feeds into tourism, and the $355 million in funding for rural and remote councils through the Roads to Recovery program, which helps, for example, the 47 million domestic visitors travelling by car and the grey nomads, who spend anywhere between six days and 73 days on the road. By providing this critical infrastructure, which was so neglected by the previous government, we are helping businesses to grow and to recover.

The tourism industry is resilient. Businesses have a profit motive to recover quickly from the likes of floods, cyclones and a whole range of other disasters. So certain business people in the industry are saying that, despite a number of hotels in Brisbane closing following the floods, they expect the market to recover well. The casino in Cairns, restaurants in Townsville and airports and attractions are now open and trading. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on 8 February show that 2010 was a good year for Australia’s international tourism. The international tourism industry grew, with arrivals growing by 5.4 per cent on the previous year, to a total of 5.9 million in 2010. This positive full-year result was assisted by strong growth in arrivals in December 2010, up 4.4 per cent on the same period in 2009. In 2010 arrivals from China, South Korea and Japan were particularly strong—up 20 per cent from China, up 18.2 per cent from South Korea and up 12 per cent from Japan. So they are all good figures. Continuing to appeal to our international visitors will be particularly important for Australia’s $34 billion tourism industry in 2011, following the negative perceptions created by the floods and Cyclone Yasi.

It is the support for tourism by this Gillard government which delivered Australia the successful Oprah Winfrey visit. By bringing 302 of her audience members to Australia for a week, Oprah Winfrey lifted the profile of Australia in ways that we have not seen before. Audience members visited every state and territory and more than 700 hours of footage was taken to produce four hours of prime time TV. The Oprah show is viewed by 40 million US viewers a week and is broadcast into 145 countries around the world. Before the show was even aired, it had paid for itself many times over, with international coverage from the time the trip was announced totalling more than 3,000 stories, having an equivalent advertising value of just over $20 million, and domestic coverage in Australia exceeding 70,000 stories, valued at more than $140 million.

The Gillard government has provided strong support towards the growth of the Australian tourism industry. It will continue to provide the support the industry needs to remain globally competitive. My electorate, which has suburbs like Glenelg and the beachside suburbs, will benefit greatly from this government’s support of tourism.

Barry Haase (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening for a session of great enjoyment. I support the private members’ bill that was put forward today by the shadow minister for regional development and the shadow minister for tourism. The first thing I would like to bring to the attention of this chamber is the fact that when the member made the very valid point that, with the Gillard government’s spending skyrocketing from $272 billion of taxpayers’ money to $352 billion of taxpayers’ money, at the same time the funding for Australian tourism has been reduced, effectively, by $13.5 million. So let us not have any question raised as to whether or not or who is doing what. This government has reduced its support for one of the most important industries in Australia. The industry is earning export dollars every day for real Australians.

The member for Capricornia, in an endeavour to take the mud off the face of the government, suggested that this government was doing wonderful things for tourism. In fact, she was able to cite an institution in her electorate—namely, the Henderson Park part of the Hedlow Lodge group—and informed the chamber that they had done so well under this government that they had received a grant of $100,000. Can I bring the truth to this chamber by pointing out that the $100,000 that was granted to that establishment in fact was granted under the Australian Tourism Development Program, in round 5, in 2007, before the election. That program, of course, was put together by the hardworking members of the then Howard government. So let us not have any doubt as to whether or not this current government is reducing funding for the Australian tourism industry. It certainly is, at a time when the Australian tourism industry needs as much help as it can get.

Apart from the natural disasters down the eastern seaboard of Australia, tourism is being hit with an Australian dollar that is also on parity with the US. That makes it very difficult for potential overseas visitors to make a decision to come to Australia. They could just as easily decide to go to America now because the dollar value is about the same. It is a long way to come, Down Under, albeit that the rewards are fantastic. Those who are really, really brave will even go to Tasmania occasionally. There is a lot to see down there, but you only need a very short period of time.

However, what is important is that we understand the hurdles that have to be jumped by the tourism industry here in Australia. We have had the global financial crisis. We have dollar parity. We have banks not prepared to readily put up capital for tourism ventures. We have an approvals process in this country today that is almost insurmountable. Members of the tourism industry who have in the past been at the forefront of the industry in making investment in this country are now saying to me, ‘Anywhere but Australia.’ In a fraction of the time, anywhere in Asia, on the Indian subcontinent, in parts of Africa and South America, they can put their applications in for development and in half the time have that institution up and running. It is a sad indictment of Australian departments that we have placed such onerous restrictions on developers in this country. We do need the product. The government are doing nothing to promote the construction of product. They have cut the Australian Tourism Development Program. Why, I do not know, when we all know that we need those facilities constructed to encourage tourism to this country.

It has already been mentioned in this debate that some of the international media has cast a very dark shadow on tourism to Australia. I can tell you, Madam Deputy Speaker, that Carnarvon, badly hit by floods, is up and running. Doors are open and they are extending a warm welcome to visitors from anywhere, especially domestic tourists. That is what we need in Australia right now—Australians to take their holiday in Australia. Forget about the overseas holiday now. Holiday in Australia. Bring tourism, which is so important in Australia, back from being on its knees. (Time expired)

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased that the member for Durack got positive towards the end of this contribution, because he was running pretty negative about the price of the dollar. That is a reality and we are not going to go back and fix it at the cabinet table. The dollar is the dollar and we have to deal with it, the tourism industry has to deal with it, and we have to be able to attract people with the price of the dollar as it is. I think the honourable member said he was going to come to Tasmania for a holiday, and I commend him for that; it is a great opportunity for him. We heard the contribution from the former shadow minister for tourism, the member for Moncrieff, who has now landed on the back bench. He was sacked from that position. Back in the Howard days, we had ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’, the greatest failure in the history of tourism campaigns in this country. It was a dismal failure. Where would we be if we had that sort of approach today?

With regard to the training issue, Mr Ciobo, the member for the Gold Coast—

Barry Haase (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Moncrieff.

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

spoke about going back to Work Choices. He wants to cut wages. That is his answer to the tourism industry. This is Liberal policy: to sort out the price of the dollar, the answer is to cut wages and conditions in the tourism sector—or continue to bring people into Australia so they can pay them less instead of providing training. This government is training people in the tourism sector. We want to give any Australian who wants to work in tourism the chance to get a start, get some training, work and have the opportunity of a career in that industry. That is what we should be doing, and that is what this government is doing, something that was totally neglected by the last coalition government.

We need to think about what tourism brings to this country. I understand the value of the industry is about $42 billion per year. This government is giving great support to the industry, and the Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, has come to the electorate of Lyons on many occasions. He is a very great minister. He understands local tourism, not just the big end of the industry, and that it is something you need to build up. The honourable member for Durack should take note of that. I am pleased to hear that in his electorate they are back at it; congratulations to them. I am glad they got through their flooding—

Barry Haase (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Carnarvon.

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in Carnarvon. I am very pleased that they are back at it. In Tasmania, 23,000 people, or six per cent of Tasmania’s workforce, are employed in the tourism sector.

I wanted to address some of the issues raised by the member for the Gold Coast. Tourism funding in Australia has not been cut by the Gillard government. That was a total misrepresentation. The budget for Tourism Australia has been retained right across the forward estimates. That can be looked at; it is all there. We are continuing to provide the full support. We provided support during the global financial crisis. We took a decision to bring forward $9 million in Tourism Australia’s budget, which was more than matched by their commercial partners: that $9 million was turned into $20 million to assist the tourism sector. This government is doing what it has to do to support this sector. I am very disappointed by the member for Paterson’s motion before us today.

That decision really gave a boost to the domestic business and leisure travel markets in Australia. During the global financial crisis, when global travel declined by four per cent internationally, Australia’s market remained steady, supported by this government—a remarkable result. So this motion is really off the mark. It does not add up, and nothing that has been said by members on the other side comes together at all. This government supports a strong tourism sector, with good training so that the sector has good, skilled people. (Time expired)

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.