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

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the dire financial situation facing travel agents and the tourism industry in general as a result of Australia's current health and economic crisis;

(2) notes that:

(a) travel agents play a significant role in our tourism industry, sustaining businesses and employing thousands of people across Australia;

(b) tourism was one of the first industries to be hit and will likely be one of the last to recover;

(c) for many of our approximately 40,000 travel agents, the cost of staying open in order to reimburse customers who were forced to cancel holidays is contributing to significant losses; and

(d) with international travel restrictions likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future, travel agents need urgent assistance; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) develop a comprehensive industry-specific support package for the tourism industry, which acknowledges the important contribution this sector makes to the economy; and

(b) provide an urgent lifeline for travel agents on the brink of collapse, instead of the inadequate loss carry-back scheme, for which the vast majority of travel agents appear to be ineligible.

This is an important motion that relates to travel agents and the significant role that they play in our tourism industry. They sustain businesses; they employ thousands of people across the country. Many are just mum and dad small businesses in neighbourhoods. We know that tourism was immediately one of the hardest hit industries once the coronavirus hit Australia. We know that for many travel agents, around 40,000 across Australia, the cost of staying open in order to refund and rearrange travel arrangements for people who were forced to cancel holidays is absolutely—you can imagine not earning any money, but still having to keep your doors open to pay back fares and to rearrange the many travel arrangements that had been made. They have been working tirelessly for zero money for the last 12 months.

We know that the majority of the profit made in travel agencies is through international travel, and they have really been suffering. International travel restrictions will likely remain in place for a number of years in the future. Travel agents needs urgent assistance. We need the government to develop a comprehensive industry-specific support package for the tourism industry that actually works for the travel agents and acknowledges the important contribution that they make. An urgent lifeline is needed for travel agents who are on the brink of collapse. The travel agents I talk to in my electorate are all on the brink of collapse. We know a scheme has been purpose-built for travel agents, but we need a scheme that actually works—not the inadequate loss carry-back scheme for which the vast majority of travel agents appear to be ineligible.

I was recently contacted by Tashi Lachman who, together with her husband, owns and runs Thor World Travel, a long-established travel agent in my electorate, in Frome Road in Adelaide. It has been running since 1988. Tashi is absolutely desperate because she's got no idea how to keep her business open through 2021. She relayed to me the announcement of $128 million in grants to the sector was incredibly welcome, but the application process is a shambles. It's too confusing and has resulted in many travel agents missing out on the grants they could have been eligible for. The instruction from the Australian trade and investment group was to apply based on the business's Australian GST revenue. As a result, Tashi was eligible for only $4,000. But this does not reflect the actual losses travel agents have faced.

Tashi has tried to reapply using her adjusted business activity statements, but Services Australia is unable to assist unless the ATO provides a new certificate. She then goes back to the ATO. The ATO say they can't do this unless Services Australia send them a request. The reality is that, because of the confusing instructions, Thor World Travel may miss out on the $20,000 it was likely to be eligible for. What a ridiculous catch 22. It's not as if travel agents didn't have enough to worry about, now they have to worry about the botch up of this particular grant. There are countless travel agents in my electorate and around Australia in the same position. This is typical of the government—big on announcements but very poor when it comes to detail and implementation.

We've been calling for a targeted, sustainable support package for travel agents for a long time, because travel agents like Tashi and her husband are still struggling and are facing 12 months of uncertainty, if not longer. They've managed to keep their doors open and keep their staff, thanks to JobKeeper, but they're now concerned that JobKeeper may end, and that will absolutely ensure they will not be able to operate. Since the announcement that international borders are unlikely to open before 2022, even more of Tashi's clients have decided to ask for refunds for trips booked for the coming year. This hurts the business even more.

Like so many travel agents across the country, Tashi and her husband are facing a very uncertain future, and it's heartbreaking. They started their business in 1988 when they migrated to Australia. They're proud small-business owners and they consider themselves fortunate to have always been able to work and support their family. They've never been a burden on the system. They've trained the hundreds of employees they have employed over the last 30 years. These are good small-business people. She wants her business to survive.

The travel agent industry is a very important industry for Australia. We will need travel agents and the tourism industry to emerge from this economic crisis. Surely we can do better by people like Tashi and other travel agents who have given so much to our nation. (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

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

Yes, there is, and I reserve my right to speak.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

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

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Adelaide for putting this motion on. I have been speaking with the travel agents across my electorate and indeed across Australia for the past six months. The last speaker is quite correct. This has to be a bipartisan approach. I have stood in this Federation Chamber and on the floor of the House and I have called for the government to make an industry-specific package. We worked together to get the $128 million that is currently being fed out to those needy recipients through the travel agents.

There are some 40,000 people in this industry. Eighty per cent are women. They are mum and dad businesses, sometimes generational businesses. Sixty per cent of those small family businesses are in regional and rural Australia. We have an obligation to ensure their longevity after this year. The borders will not open this year; it is quite clear there will not be international travel. These businesses rely on between 90-95 per cent international travel. They are unable to make an income from their current profession.

I have been speaking with, Darren Rudd, the CEO of AFTA, in relation to the $128 million and also the potential for an ongoing 'travelkeeper', in line with the JobKeeper, for this industry. We can see that most industries have come off JobKeeper because they no longer need it. They have recovered sufficiently and they are back on their feet. They are able to make money and pay their employees. It was a great government initiative. It kept us economically financial and kept a lot of people in work.

What we see now is that the travel industry is one of a handful of industries who require that ongoing support. We do need to approach it on a bipartisan basis. We can't say us and them. We need to work together to ensure that that happens. What you've seen over the past 12 months is an industry that has continued to work effectively for free.

The borders were closed for the right reasons. The borders were closed for the health of our nation. Everybody agrees that it had to happen. When those borders closed, the travel agent industry was the first to be hit, and they would be the last to come out of it. But they didn't just stop work and apply for JobKeeper. They continued to work with $10 billion of booking fees over 12 months, to ensure that that $10 billion was returned to the citizens of Australia. At last glance they had returned I think around $7 billion to $8 billion worth of those travel fees. And not only did they not get paid, but the ACCC made a ruling that the commissions for the work they had previously done had to be repaid, so they were out of pocket for that work.

But did they complain? No. They continued to do the heavy lifting for that industry to ensure that that money was returned to its rightful owners. They also continued to do the heavy lifting in getting our own citizens back into the country. So, we owe them a debt of gratitude for the work they have continued to do. And we owe them the opportunity to maintain their living, maintain their profession so that it will be there in 12 or 18 months time and so that they aren't on the edge of the cliff. I've spoken to literally hundreds of travel agents around the country, who tell me that they are facing bankruptcy, that they are having to hand back cars they have leased. They are facing an incredibly difficult time, but they are also appreciative of this government for the $128 million. They are appreciative of this government for the JobKeeper payment that was provided. And now they're asking this government to provide to them an industry-specific—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection—bipartisan approach—from the other side. (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for Oxley—and hopefully he'll enjoy his opportunity to be heard in silence.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, I'm happy to have interjections, because I'm not afraid of a debate. Talk is cheap, from the member we've just heard. Yes, the cliff is coming, but the cliff isn't some magical year or two away; it's right now. The industry is suffering now. I was in Cairns, on the ground, last week, and I can tell you, this government is not popular with tourism operators in North Queensland. And while he scurries out of the chamber, I say to the member: go up to Cairns, have a talk to the operators, look them in the eye, don't run out of this place because I'm holding you to account but actually have the guts to talk to those operators. The cliff is coming right now.

Our tourism industry is still facing a dire financial situation. I refer to my own home paper, The Courier Mail, today. The front page says it all: 'Figures show tourist towns exposed when subsidies are cut off'—

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No props—the member for Oxley will put that prop down.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Praying for keeps'—it's a front-page story:

More than 250,000 Queenslanders were still relying on JobKeeper towards the end of last year, with fears there will be job losses across crucial industries - particularly tourism - when the subsidy dries up next month.

New Treasury figures reveal more than 500,000 JobKeeper recipients have come off the pandemic subsidy, but some key tourism hot spots have remain disproportionately impacted.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief Daniel Gschwind said that many operators would 'shed jobs' without government support. He said, 'We hold a lot of concerns for operators around the state. It's very visible in Cairns, but the same applies for the Gold Coast.

When I was in Cairns last week as part of the federal opposition's jobs task force, I met with a number of businesses, and the Leader of the Opposition heard firsthand about exactly what is happening in regional and Far North Queensland. We heard over and over again that people are reliant on tourists, particularly international travellers, for their survival. So, this makes it an issue of federal concern. I don't want any more speeches in this chamber about how hard the industry has worked. I don't want any more cheap words in this chamber about what the government could be doing, what the government should be doing. We know what the industry has asked for. The postcode of Cairns has the highest amount of JobKeeper of any postcode in Queensland.

It is not rocket science. The minister was there the same day I was in Cairns, and what did he come and do? He offered absolutely nothing: nothing to the tourist operators, nothing to the hospitality industry. One vendor told us in January last year that they had 530 guests going out to sea on the reef that day. At the same time this year it was 27 guests. Then we have all the nonsense from the government saying: 'It's something to do with the Queensland borders. It's something to do with Annastacia Palaszczuk. It's something to do with Gladys Berejiklian.' What rot. Seventy per cent of the tourist dollars come from overseas in Cairns, and this government tries to have a fig leaf and say, 'It's something to do with border closures.' It is nonsense.

Instead of ignoring the tourist operators, the businesses are crying out for help. The JobKeeper repeal, which this government has committed to by the end of March, will see the industry drop off a cliff. More than 250,000 people in Queensland alone are still counting on it for survival. The government says on one hand the economy is recovering well, 'building back' or whatever is the latest marketing slogan the Prime Minister is on about. In reality it's working from the same old playbook, looking after itself this time by using businesses in metropolitan areas that are doing well as an excuse to rip money away from regional businesses, whose revenue is still down and who may never recover without ongoing subsidies.

So today I call on the government. I want clear answers about what's replacing JobKeeper for the struggling tourism sector in Queensland at the end of March. We need an industry-specific support package. Talk to the tourism operators; they'll tell you exactly what they need. If you don't have a plan, continue JobKeeper. Protect jobs, invest in skills, look after the national asset that is our tourism industry, built up through so many decades. Our economy in Queensland relies on JobKeeper—the tourism sector right up and down the coast, from Cairns to the Whitsundays to Hervey Bay, right down to the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. This shouldn't be a debate we're having in this parliament. This government should be looking after the tourism industry.

Talk is cheap. Today I call on the Morrison government to do the right thing and support JobKeeper for tourism in Queensland. (Time expired)

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to my colleague, the member for Adelaide, for raising this issue. We've all heard so many times about the effect COVID has had on our economy. Unemployment soared through 2020, and service industries ground to a halt. The government had to mobilise, and through schemes like JobKeeper and JobSeeker we were able to shift rapidly and keep most people's heads above water. Almost a year on, we're finally seeing the effect these reforms had. After just a few months, growth is bouncing back, unemployment has turned the corner and, notwithstanding the handful of quick lock downs like we're seeing in Victoria right now, life seems to be returning to a form of normal—a new normal. Economic data released recently shows the economy rebounding across most sectors. Shopping is back up to where it was, as are hospitality visits and other sectors. But one sector remains in the doldrums: the travel industry.

Of course, it stands to reason: borders are closed for our safety, and the lack of international travel has been one of the things that has kept Australia as one of the healthiest in the world last year, but the follow-on effects are pretty grim for the travel industry. Bennelong has self-travel agents, and I've spoken to many of them in recent months. It is clear that 2020 has been the toughest year that they have ever faced. I've heard stories of the pain of individuals working in the industry, uncertain about how long they may have a job. I have heard from small-business owners expressing their frustration and concerns for their staff. I've heard from businesses down the line who support the travel industry in various ways and have seen their biggest customers dry up.

Many have pointed out one of the unique paradoxes of the travel industry: while airlines are huge companies, many with international or government backing, over 70 per cent of travel agents are small businesses and franchises. They don't have the capacity to absorb shocks, so the crisis has gone to the heart of their small family businesses. This pain has travelled down through the industry to its customers, and plenty have felt the pain in the hip pockets over the holidays which have been planned and then cancelled. Many of these people have lost large amounts of money and received huge inconveniences that we must find ways to address. However, their particular plight is not the matter at hand here. Frankly, it deserves a debate all of its own.

Thankfully, the government has brought in specific reforms to address the unique concerns felt by the travel industry. At the beginning of December the government announced the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program. This $128 million set of grants allows travel agents to claim between $1,500 and $100,000 to ensure they continue to operate. Nearly half of this allocation has already been spent, but I would encourage any travel agent in trouble to look at this scheme.

Additional to these bandaid solutions, we're also investing in our regional tourism offerings to encourage people who would otherwise be going overseas to travel domestically. Millions of dollars have gone to Tourism Australia, national parks, the Recovery for Regional Tourism Fund and, of course, support for the airlines. Together this will help domestic tourism get back on its feet, which will in turn provide the demand that travel agents need to survive.

So it is clear that, while there are huge amounts of pain in the industry, the government is moving to help those who are needing it and has recognised the unequal nature of the economic recovery. I'm confident that we will retain this flexible approach through the coming year so that we can adapt to any further systemic shocks that this chaotic and adaptive virus may bring. Most importantly, I look forward to a time in the near future when we can all get vaccinated and get back to travelling as we did before 2020. While support grants will keep businesses above water, nothing will be as good as businesses working as they are designed to do and getting us back out to see the world—and getting the world to come and see us.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Adelaide. The government's mantra that Australia has not been hit as hard as most other countries by COVID-19 and that we're doing so well in comparison with most other countries is no comfort at all to the tens of thousands of people whose lives have been left in turmoil by COVID-19 here in Australia—people who have lost lifelong jobs, who have now got no income, who have lost their savings and even their superannuation, and who have little prospect of getting a job in the future because of either their age or their lifelong experience in one industry alone.

There is no sector that has been hit harder with respect to all of this than the travel sector. With no warning and no foresight, they've had the rug pulled from under them. Their businesses have literally vanished. There are some 40,000 people who work in the travel industry today, and over 70 per cent of them are women. There are about 4,000 travel agents throughout the country, and most are in small family owned enterprises that have often taken out loans to set up their businesses, that have been operating pretty much on a shoestring budget and that now find themselves with no income and no prospect of their business reviving in the near future. They'll also find themselves, unlike most other businesses and as others have already said, actually refunding money from previous years' earnings.

Even worse, given what the government has already done in terms of support—I'm talking about JobKeeper, JobSeeker and the $128 million assistance package—the reality is that there is also some discrimination in terms of the way they get all of that support. It's discrimination that is brought about both because of Australia's tax laws and the way that the government has structured the support packages, including JobSeeker. I have spoken to some travel agents in my part of Adelaide who are all struggling to get those benefits simply because of the way they manage their operations; indeed, one of those people, Connie Dziwoki, who I spoke about in this place only a few weeks ago and who I know has since written to several government ministers about her dilemma, makes that absolutely clear. It's to do with the way they report their income for the purpose of their business activity statements. Business activity statements can be reported in different ways and the same outcome results in terms of the tax that they are obliged to pay. How these people report, however, determines the level of assistance that is given to them from the government's $128 million package. It turns out that two identical operators, literally working in the same area in the same kind of travel agent business, can receive a vastly different amount of support. It's different almost to the point of 10 to one. In this particular person's case—she operates Genesis Travel and Cruise—the amount she has actually been offered as part of the assistance package is just over one-tenth of that offered to a similar business, simply because of the reporting nature.

What has the government's response been to all of that? 'We will not allow you to change or amend your funding application,' because, of course, that means they would have to pay out a lot more money—I'd imagine that's the real reason behind it. When they realised that there was an anomaly in the reporting method they put on a cut-off date of 4 January, saying that after that you cannot amend your application and therefore you will only be entitled to the amount based on the figures you originally supplied, not the figures that would otherwise have, quite rightly, entitled you to the higher amount. That is simply absurd and simply unfair.

One in 10 travel agents are likely not to survive if the government does not extend the JobKeeper program. If that happens, we will not only lose years and years of expertise but, quite frankly, we'll leave the whole travel agent sector decimated. In years to come when, hopefully, things do rebound we will not have the people there to give travellers the support that they've been getting for years and which they will depend on in the future.

The government needs to extend JobKeeper, it needs to have an industry-specific support program and it needs to allow amendments to the application process. (Time expired)

Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to commend Mr Georganas for putting this motion before the House. It is certainly timely. This is a genuine industry that has effectively come to fore of the government's understanding. The government understands that it does have specific needs.

Recently I had the opportunity to host around 10 travel agents in my electorate office. I heard firsthand how they have effectively had to work for the last 12 months whilst international travel, where they make all their money—they make very little money from domestic traffic—shut. They have had to continue working because around $4 billion of Australians' money was stuck somewhere—maybe in an airline's account, or some overseas travel agent's or tour operator's account or in some accommodation house's account. All this money has, effectively, had to be reprocessed back, either to be refunds or in the form of credits. This has been through the tireless work of these travel agents, effectively working for nothing. They are very grateful for the support of JobKeeper; in fact, JobKeeper is keeping them in business.

However, JobKeeper is fine for their wages but they're also going to need additional help in relation to paying their utilities and their other ongoing expenses. That's why, in fact, the government put $128 million on the table to assist. Yes, as a previous speaker said, there was a large cohort of these travel agents who put in conflicting amounts for their turnover, GST or commissions. Those who put their total turnover in were compensated in what I would say was the right amount, but those other two categories have been left out. The government is moving to assist those travel agents because the government understands that this is a critical industry and that if we don't offer them the assistance that they need then they will go to the wall.

This industry needs to be commended. The main issue of the travel agents who I spoke to—their sole issue—is to look after their clients, to make sure that more of that $4 billion that is still sitting overseas somewhere, or is sitting with an Australian airline company, or is in the form of credits or potential refund money does in fact find its way back. If these tour operators, travel agents, effectively go out of business because we can't get the right assistance to them, then we're going to have a whole cohort of Australians who are not going to be able to be quite sure who it is that's going to help them get their refund or get their credits lined up for when we go into the future.

It is an amazing industry. There's a wealth of knowledge tied up in this industry. These people love their work. They love their work, primarily because so they make so many Australians very, very happy with being able to organise their tours and organise their holidays. It is an industry where you're finding that they are put into a very, very difficult situation now. They get their commissions at the time of the holiday but the bookings are made many months in advance, so they find themselves in a very difficult position. They do need additional assistance. I'm sure we are looking forward to announcements into the future.

Firstly, getting this $60 million-odd, that's still outstanding, from the rescue package that was put in place by the government. The first thing we need to do is get that sorted out so that our travel agents can, in fact, get the money that the government intends them to receive. Then we need to look at how we're going to continue that support so that this particular industry, the travel agency sector, can maintain its workload into the future so that it can keep supporting all of those Australians who have so much money, right at the moment, tied up in an account somewhere for a holiday that they're yet to have.

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

The time allotted for the 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.