Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge the local businesses in my electorate who are facing probably the toughest challenge of their time in business. They, of course, are the travel agents. I, along with Senator Farrell, our shadow minister, met with over 40 travel agents locally in Macnamara last week and with the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, and we listened. We listened to their experiences. We listened to the feedback the travel agents were giving us. Most importantly, we listened to the feedback around the level of government support.

We know this pandemic is not over. Many travel agents don't receive most of their income from domestic travel. Most travel agents traditionally receive their income from international travel, from hotel stays and from some of the package deals they so amazingly put together. They are hardworking businesses and hardworking Australians. It's clear from the feedback we are receiving from our local travel agents that without JobKeeper they will be finished and jobs will go and that without a return to open international borders their business model isn't sustainable.

This pandemic isn't over. We're asking businesses like travel agents to make significant changes to the way in which they do business in Australia. We have a choice: we can let them fold and let jobs go, or we can do what we've done so far and provide JobKeeper, provide support for businesses and provide support for the Australian workers who add so much to the Australian economy. The government shouldn't be pulling JobKeeper. They should be supporting Australian businesses like our travel agents.