Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that Australia's tourism sector is vital to a strong, growing economy;

(2) notes:

(a) that 2020 has seen an incredibly tough start to the year for tourism operators with devastating bushfires, an inevitable Coronavirus pandemic and a sluggish domestic economy;

(b) Australia is a tourism dependent economy with the Australian Bureau of Statistics noting a $60 billion contribution to gross domestic product; and

(c) 666,000 people worked in tourism in Australia in 2018-19;

(3) encourages Australians to support our local tourism operators and where possible holiday here, at home, in the best country in the world;

(4) commits Members of this House to work with members of the tourism industry and local operators and encourage the development of new tourism businesses and assets; and

(5) agrees that Australia is the best country in the world and a must visit country for any international tourist.

Australia's tourism industry has felt the full force and devastation of the coronavirus. Many businesses had already faced the pain of the bushfires, and the double whammy of those two things or even the coronavirus alone means there are many will never truly recover. There have been livelihoods ruined and those that do survive will take many years to get back to what they knew as normal. When it comes to the tourism industry, there definitely will be no snap back.

The Australian tourism sector generated $61 billion a year of GDP prior to the virus. That's 300,000 businesses, more than a million people employed directly and indirectly. One in 12 people in Australia owe their jobs to the tourism sector. In my home state of Western Australia, some 25,000 tourism businesses generate more than $10 billion for the economy and support more than 100,000 jobs. In my electorate alone, 4,970 people are directly employed by tourism, but the Western Australian Tourism Council tell me their survey shows that some 55 per cent of their staff have ceased working since the coronavirus hit, from some of our biggest hotels such as the Pan Pacific to boutique retailers like Kirrikin, who rely on international tourists to purchase their beautiful Indigenous clothing.

This sector has felt a whack. Sadly, that pain is not over. There are some businesses in my electorate that will not make it to Christmas. That is what they have told me that when I have gone around and talked to them. They say that this is tough and they need as much certainty as soon as possible. They know, because they have sold this country to the world, Australia is the best place in the world. It is a place we can't share with the rest of the world at the moment but, over time, we will once again want Australia to be that high-aspiration destination for international travellers. We don't know if it will be one year or years until our tourism market reopens but, whenever it does, let's make sure that we are well and truly the place that is at the top of everyone's must-visit list. As we wait for those international borders to reopen, and who knows exactly how long that will be, let's build some of the things that tourists want to see. Let's make sure we build light rail in Perth. Let's keep the progress going on high-speed rail on the East Coast. Let's look at what other attractions we might need to make this a family-friendly destination. I'm a big fan of building a Marvel World here in Australia, but there is a whole bunch of other, more pressing, issues which Infrastructure Australia has also identified—

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