Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

COVID has been a complex challenge not just here in Australia but around the world, leaving few aspects of our lives untouched. Small and medium-sized businesses continue to be impacted, including in my electorate of Solomon—Darwin and Palmerston—in the Top End. Every member of this place will have heard stories of their local businesses struggling to survive, some even going to the wall. One industry that has been hit particularly hard is that of travel agents.

The impact of COVID on the travel industry was really brought home to me recently by a Darwin local. I was contacted by Cola Maurirere, the general manager of itravel in Darwin. Cola is passionate about helping people to travel, and it was this passion that got her into the travel industry and led her to establish her own business. But, since 2020, when the pandemic hit, Cola has gone for great lengths of time without any income at all. She has seen her projected earnings from travel bookings disappear entirely, and, despite refocusing her business to cater to domestic travel to a greater extent than before, little has improved. This of course has been a result of the lockdowns of the big markets that want to come up to the Northern Territory.

Cola says that running her business during the COVID pandemic has been like a roller-coaster, and I'm sure all honourable members can recognise that in their own jurisdictions as well. There have been glimmers of hope and a sense of normality returning, with people starting to book holidays once more, but the plans of so many would-be travellers have been disrupted by new variants of COVID and new waves of illness, restrictions and border closures. Cola tells me that, from her vantage point, the current state of the travel industry is no better than it was at the worst of the pandemic, because the public have lost their confidence in booking a holiday without any disruptions.

The Australian Federation of Travel Agents says that the industry will not survive without a travel sector skills retention-and-recovery package from the federal government. So I call on those opposite to have a look at the package that's been suggested and to take steps to support this industry. After all, JobKeeper did help for a while, but in my view it was withdrawn much too early. It would have been better if it were continued and better targeted: instead of going to those who didn't need it, it should've gone to those who did.