Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I'm happy to have interjections, because I'm not afraid of a debate. Talk is cheap, from the member we've just heard. Yes, the cliff is coming, but the cliff isn't some magical year or two away; it's right now. The industry is suffering now. I was in Cairns, on the ground, last week, and I can tell you, this government is not popular with tourism operators in North Queensland. And while he scurries out of the chamber, I say to the member: go up to Cairns, have a talk to the operators, look them in the eye, don't run out of this place because I'm holding you to account but actually have the guts to talk to those operators. The cliff is coming right now.

Our tourism industry is still facing a dire financial situation. I refer to my own home paper, The Courier Mail, today. The front page says it all: 'Figures show tourist towns exposed when subsidies are cut off'—

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