Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak on the member for Capricornia's private member's motion highlighting the role Australia's north plays in the country's economy. Developing Australia's north is yet another example of where this Turnbull government has provided leadership and a long-term vision compared with Labor, who did nothing for Australia's north during their six years in office.

The federal government's northern Australia white paper Our North, Our Future was a coalition election commitment and, as members of this chamber have heard me say on many occasions, it is a blueprint for developing Australia's north following years of cheap talk and empty promises by the previous Labor government.

Tourism and hospitality are two of the industry pillars that have enormous potential for growth, as outlined in the white paper, together with food and agribusiness, energy and resources, international education, health care, medical research and aged care. A good tourism sector, however, is reliant upon a good local and backpacker workforce. The $10 million global backpacker boom campaign was launched a fortnight ago by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.

The backpacker boom is a three-year campaign targeting working holiday makers in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy and will lead to making Australia an even better destination to take a working holiday. More than 320,000 people undertook a working holiday in Australia last year, spending around $3 billion in the national economy. We do need Labor to get behind our changes to the backpacker tax—because be it on their head when the fruit rots on the vine.

The federal government's campaign will be of enormous benefit to northern Australia, especially in the north-west, where people from all around the world undertake various jobs, from working in the agricultural and tourism industries in the Pilbara to pouring pints and coffees in the Kimberley. Total visitors to the north-west increased by over eight per cent in 2015, which was an increase by a mammoth 103 per cent in the last three years, according to Tourism Research Australia's national and international visitor surveys. According to the same survey, in the last decade tourists visiting the north-west have increased by 97 per cent—a fantastic effort—and it is with full credit to the small business owners whose staff make the north-west a 'must visit' whilst travelling in Australia.

Tourist spending has increased in the region by 17 per cent in the last 12 months and by 94 per cent over the last three years according to Tourism Research Australia. Karijini National Park, the Bungle Bungle's and Wolf Creek Crater are some of the world-class natural landscapes in the north-west. And the small business sector, as you well know, Deputy Speaker Wicks, plays a vital role in the development of tourism in Australia's north.

In my electorate of Durack, nearly 4,000 people are directly employed in the tourism industry, according to the Tourism and Transport Forum, providing tours for tourists and locals of the beautiful natural attractions throughout the Kimberley, Gascoyne and Pilbara and keeping tourists' palate satisfied—fed and watered well. Small businesses and their staff are at the forefront of ensuring people have a great experience throughout the region. It is only members on this side of the chamber that understand the importance of small business and that is why we implemented the Jobs and Small Business package, a package which includes a tax deduction for assets up to $20,000. For the new kitchen fit out or for the new pie warmer or for the new vehicle and the like, this is going to be a great boon for those businesses to develop. The federal government will also in turn reduce the small business tax rate down to 27½ per cent for businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million annually.

These economic policies will assist the small business sector in Australia's north and make regions like the Kimberley, the Pilbara and the Gascoyne even greater places to live, to visit and to do business more generally, and the region will become an economic tourist hub of employment for Australians and working holiday makers.

With respect to the backpacker tax, we all want Australians to take Australian jobs. In my electorate of Durack, some 1.7 million square kilometres, there is simply not the local workforce, and I do advocate for welfare reform to ensure that people are not going to be disadvantaged if they come off welfare to take a seasonal job. At the moment fruit is going to rot on the vine, those pints are not going to be poured and those coffees are not going to be made without changes to the backpacker tax regime. I urge the Labor Party to get behind our changes so that we can have a good tourist season in 2017.

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