Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly, and I take the point of the member for Moreton. One of the tragedies of all this is that those in overseas tourist destinations appreciate the training that has been done and the skills that have been developed by a lot of our young people, but we are not doing that when it comes to developing our own tourism industry. I think to some extent it is a matter of maturity.

We are now saying it is time to take the next step. It is time to move this industry forward. It is time to develop this industry to its potential. It is time to invest in the development of skills and not simply provide a job before someone gets another job. We are now talking about developing careers to make this industry sustainable and to make this industry somewhere people want to work for a lifetime and get their passport to work all around this country in first-class facilities. The young people of this nation are entitled to be proud. They are certainly entitled to receive the training that is going to accredit them for full participation throughout their working life, hopefully in this industry. We have to now bite the bullet and realise that this is an industry worth working in and it is an industry worth having a career in—this is something the committee is unanimous on. (Time expired)

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