Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Hansard source

I absolutely stand by my comment that the Australian Labor Party was strangling Australia's tourism industry with a 45 per cent increase in the passenger movement charge. A 45 per cent increase in the passenger movement charge! You need to talk to the member for Port Adelaide, who actually put forward the rationale about why it should go up. So the simple fact is that once again we see the Australian Labor Party approach to policy making that says, 'Don't listen to what we say, look at what we do,' because that is what Labor did—a 45 per cent increase in the passenger movement charge.

Now, we know that inflation was out of the bottle. We heard that from the Australian Labor Party. But 45 per cent? Really? The member for Lilley—45 per cent when Labor was in power. So we know that the Australian Labor Party delivered record taxes on Australia's tourism industry, but they did not reinvest the money. A 45 per cent increase in the passenger movement charge but they actually reduced funding for tourism in Australia, unlike the coalition, which has put in place a modest increase—substantially less than 45 per cent.

It is the coalition which is putting in record funding to Australia's tourism industry: $639 million by this government, driving record numbers of tourists, driving record spend by tourists and driving the length of stay to new record levels. That is the record of this government, and I am very proud to stand by this government's track record.

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