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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. This week the Morrison-Joyce government announced the reopening of our international borders. Will the Deputy Prime Minister please update the House on how the aviation and transport sectors will facilitate international travellers and help boost the tourist economy, and is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I would also briefly like to acknowledge the great service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II—both her service to the Commonwealth and her example to the world on the dignity of high office.

Obviously, tourism is incredibly important. I note for the member for Cowper that, in places such as Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour especially, which rely so heavily on what was a peak of 1.2 million passengers a month, passengers went down to merely 6½ thousand in the midst of the pandemic. This placed incredible stress on so many businesses throughout the member for Cowper's electorate.

But it is not only the member for Cowper's electorate. It has been seen in the tourism industry in places such as Uluru, Alice Springs and Kakadu in the member for Lingiari's seat, the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays in the member for Dawson's electorate, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef in the member for Leichhardt's seat, Carnarvon Gorge, Great Keppel Island and Mount Etna National Park in the member for Capricornia's electorate. And it goes on. In the member for Hunter's seat, who's not here today, it has affected the wineries of Pokolbin and Barrington Tops.

So it is with great pleasure that we once more open up our nation to get our tourism industry back onto the footing that it was on beforehand and to meet the position that we'd reached, especially on an economic basis—with the great work of the Treasurer—with exceptionally low unemployment and economic growth.

The CEO of Qantas last night contacted me directly, telling me: 'It's great news about the international borders. It means Australia is truly open for business. It's fantastic for the industry, as a whole, and for the regions that have been doing it tough without the flow of tourists and labour. Thanks for staying the course.' In noting 'staying the course', he of course notes the great support that was given by the Commonwealth government to keep the airline industry in a position where they can be the greatest beneficiary of this new opening. This is going to be incredibly important—that people such as Virgin Australia also get back in the air. The CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka, said, 'Today's announcement made by the Australian government is an important step forward in reigniting the travel industry and opening Australia to the rest of the world at a critical time of recovery. This will also come as positive news for travellers looking to reconnect with loved ones in Australia and will be a huge boost for our tourism industry.'

Of course, it goes without saying—I go back to the member for Cowper and the immense work he has done for the travel agents. We will note that the travel agents will also be looking forward to the reopening of these borders and the reinvigoration of their income stream.