Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Green for her question. It's an issue which I think we canvassed in some detail in discussions in the chamber on Tuesday this week. The government has provided significant levels of economic support during COVID-19 through a range of programs such as JobKeeper, as the Leader of the Government in the Senate outlined in his earlier response, and small-business cash payments of up to $100,000. What those payments have done is sustain hundreds of thousands of tourism businesses and tourism jobs across Australia.

As part of our plan to support tourism recovery, we're also providing further targeted assistance to help the tourism sector rebound and to save as many jobs as possible. That is in addition, as I said earlier this week, to our record funding for Tourism Australia of over $231 million in the current financial year, which is being used to directly support the tourism industry. Tourism Australia is ramping up domestic marketing campaigns, with phase 2 of the Holiday Here This Year campaign now underway—familiar to many of us from our television screens right now. Tourism Australia are also positioning to commence international marketing campaigns when the time is right.

We outlined in our budget a clear plan for Australia to create jobs and to rebuild our economy, and that includes helping secure the future of Australia's tourism industry. We provided $50 million for a Recovery for Regional Tourism fund, which includes regional areas of Queensland such as those that Senator Green has referred to, to boost tourism in nine regions heavily reliant on international tourism. That's a program that will deliver tailored assistance measures to help tourism businesses pivot to the domestic market. Those applications are currently open, with eligible applicants able to submit requests for funding until 30 September this year. (Time expired)