Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are witnessing a failure of leadership from the Morrison government, which is impacting many Tasmanian workers and families, who are struggling to pay bills and feed their families. These Tasmanians have been plunged into uncertainty and disruption because of a leaky quarantine system and a slow vaccine rollout. They are not getting assistance from the Morrison government, because they are not in lockdown, even though the New South Wales and Victorian lockdowns are having a massive impact on the Tasmanian tourism industry. While businesses in those states can receive federal financial support, Tasmanian tourism operators and their employees currently receive nothing from the Morrison government to help them survive. Tourism directly contributes $1.49 billion, or about 4.9 per cent, to Tasmania's gross product and, directly and indirectly, supports around 42,000 jobs. That's about 17.2 per cent of the total Tasmanian employment—higher than the national average and the highest in the country.

In 2020, as borders closed to contain COVID-19, demand in the tourism, hospitality and events sectors basically dried up overnight. Tasmanians rallied. As soon as they could travel they explored their home town and their home state and tried to spend money at home. Despite that, tourism operators and events are facing severe reductions in income as a result of travel restrictions and physical distancing measures, with some delaying their reopening or limiting their offering and others potentially closing permanently. Ongoing travel restrictions have led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights in and out of the state. At Tasmanian airports, boards are lit up with cancelled flights, or they're not even open at all. One worker at Hobart airport said:

We are now looking at around 80 to 90 staff that have been stood down with no pay or support from anyone.

My understanding is, because they are on standdown, they are not able to get any support at all as they have not been terminated.

I am sort of lucky at the moment and have 15 hours work but, with all the late cancellations, I won't receive our next roster until Friday with the chance of being stood down like the others.

I have been working at Hobart airport for nearly 20 years.

I have never felt so unsure as to how I am going to survive this with no help.

When I travel from Devonport and Launceston airports, which I do frequently, workers there tell me the same story. A business that I know in north-west Tasmania has invested thousands of dollars recruiting and training a new workforce, but those workers also are now in limbo. The Tasmanian Tourism Industry Council recently stated:

The hard truth is some 18 months since borders first closed, we are today looking at the most uncertain conditions we've had yet—with COVID seemingly out of control in NSW, no absolute certainty of when borders might again open to our main markets in NSW and Victoria, and No JobKeeper to secure our workforce and provide an industry safety net.

The Tasmanian state government has introduced some short-term measures to support the industry, but there has been no support from the Morrison government. Prime Minister Morrison and his government have failed, and Tasmanian workers and their families are paying the price of his failures. He has betrayed every Tasmanian worker who is currently stood down or forced to accept hours so low they can't pay their bills. He has betrayed every one of the 1,776 Tasmanian tourism businesses, businesses which have shown remarkable resilience in the face of bleak prospects and exhausted financial reserves. The very least that Prime Minister Morrison could do is provide some support while the delta variant runs riot down the eastern seaboard.

Mr Morrison's failure to take responsibility is playing out in the lives of tens of thousands of Tasmanians who are struggling. The Prime Minister was dragged kicking and screaming to provide wage support in 2020. Then he ended the JobKeeper scheme too early. Then he allowed businesses to keep massive JobKeeper overpayments—millions of Australian taxpayers' dollars to millionaire CEOs and billionaire shareholders. Imagine what even a tiny bit of that money could do for those workers around the Tasmanian airports. Workers in the travel industry have been crying out for help. That call has fallen on deaf ears. The words of that worker who raised those issues from Hobart Airport should be ringing in Mr Morrison's ears: 'I have never felt so unsure as to how I'm going to survive this with no help.'