Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Passenger Movement Charge Amendment Bill 2024 gives effect to a measure announced by the government as part of the 2023-24 budget. This bill will amend the Passenger Movement Charge Act 1978 to increase the passenger movement charge from $60 to $70 from 1 July 2024.

The passenger movement charge is imposed on persons departing Australia for another country and is usually collected by the carrier, such as an airline, at the time that a ticket is sold, and that amount is remitted by the carrier to the Department of Home Affairs.

Border revenue collection measures, such as the collection of the passenger movement charge, play an important role in advancing Australia's economic interests and helping to fund our critical border protection services, such as customs, immigration and biosecurity. I'd like the parliament to note that this increase from $60 to $70 is the first time the passenger movement charge has been increased since 2017—quite a long period.

All Australians benefit from a strong border, including our important tourism industry, and that is why we've already acted to improve the traveller experience at our border. We continue to invest in improving the performance of our airports and the passenger experience through our international airports and cruise ship terminals.

We are also investing as a government in a range of initiatives that help support the Australian tourism and travel industry, a really important part of Australia's economy. The initiatives include programs to revive international travel, upskill workers, ensure quality tourism products and deliver infrastructure upgrades. Through Tourism Australia's Come and Say G'day campaign, we are driving demand for visitation to Australia. Those policies are clearly having some impact, because we are seeing very steady increases to international visits to Australia, and the outlook for tourism and our travel industry is really positive after what have been a very difficult few years while our borders were shut.

This increase of $10 to the passenger movement charge is broadly in line with the increase in inflation since 2017. It will see an additional $520 million generated in revenue over the next three years. This is one of several measures our government announced in the 2023-24 budget as part of our economic and fiscal strategy to make the economy and budget stronger, more resilient and more sustainable over the medium term.

This considered increase to the passenger movement charge will bolster the government's capacity to invest in the protection of our international border, which includes recent investments in some of the things I mentioned before, like our biosecurity system and the important and expanding work of the Australian Border Force, an organisation I'm very proud to represent in this parliament.

This increase to the passenger movement charge will apply to persons departing Australia from 1 July 2024 with a ticket purchased from that time. This is a considered and responsible measure that will contribute to the continued economic prosperity of our great country.

Debate adjourned.