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

Thank you very much, Mr President. Before Senator Polley took her point of order I was going to remind the chamber about the government's approach in this vital sector, which we absolutely acknowledge. In fact, my state of New South Wales has dealt consequentially not just with bushfires but with floods and then with pandemic issues which have clearly impacted the tourism industry; I cite the beautiful area of the Blue Mountains in particular. We're very focused on specific programs to support jobs and businesses in those areas and to support the maintenance and retention of those jobs in those areas. So the Recovery for Regional Tourism Fund is about boosting tourism in nine regions which are heavily reliant on international tourism but, of course, which welcome domestic tourism as well. I have even been through the details of the applications for those programs in my previous answers.

I was going to say earlier to Senator Green, but, sadly, ran out of time, that under our Building Better Regions Fund we have earmarked $100 million of specific funding for tourism infrastructure to assist those regions to boost the supply of new, quality tourism infrastructure, to drive visitation and to maintain jobs in the tourism industry in those regions. We are also providing $100 million—