House debates

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Bills

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022; Consideration in Detail

4:12 pm

Photo of Andrew GeeAndrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite might want to listen, and I'll run through all of the support that we have given to this industry. We are a true friend of this industry; we have supported it through these very trying times. On 11 March 2021, the government announced a $1.2 billion tourism and aviation support package to support the tourism sector through the vaccine rollout and set back up for normal trading. In terms of the funding and support in the package, we have the Tourism Aviation Network Support Program, which I just referred to in my opening remarks, designed to drive demand for aviation tourism by halving the cost of up to 800,000 airfares to regional tourism destinations for four months, or around 46,000 seats a week; the extension of the $50 million Business Events Grant program by three months to support the events sector; the extension of the $94.6 million Supporting Australia's Exhibiting Zoos and Aquariums Program by six months so that zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks can maintain their animal population; a further $130 million of support for travel agents so they can continue to process refunds and hold credits for Australian consumers; and the extension of the SME loan guarantee scheme to underwrite loans with banks, with an 80-20 split, to support up to $40 billion in lending to small and medium enterprises.

We on this side of the House know how difficult it is to run businesses. We know what it's like to build businesses. We are the coalition of businesspeople, of the men and women who build the prosperity of this country. We are not a party of union apparatchiks like those on the other side.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government also supported the tourism sector through whole-of-economy measures such as JobKeeper and sector specific measures. They included direct tourism support of $387 million, tourism related support of $270.2 million, indirect tourism support of $451.8 million. Have any of you on that side of the House ever run a small business or a medium sized business or a large business? There are very few of you, I can tell you that. In fact, you've only got one tradie on that side of the House, and that's Joel, the member for Hunter. The tourism sector was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the $1 billion COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund, which included the following tourism support: regional airlines funding assistance, $100 million; regional air network assistance, $198 million—and the member next to me loves that fund—zoos and aquariums, $94.6 million; business events, $50 million; and Regional Recovery Partnerships, $100 million.

Turning to the Tourism Aviation Network Support program, as I've said, this was announced on 11 March, and around 800,000 airfares will be halved under that program. That's real support to businesses and tourism areas in need. We have answered the call on this side of the House. Other tourism measures include the Recovery of Regional Tourism program, $50 million; the National Tourism Icons program, $50 million; and the COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program Round 1, $128 million, which supported travel agents to process refunds and continue to hold credits while receiving little to no revenue. We know on this side of the House what a difficult time it has been for our tourism sector and the business people that keep it alive at all levels, from the transport sector through to the folks who run the hotels and hospitality to our tourist destinations themselves—our events, theme parks, all of that. We understand how difficult it is.

I can remember looking outside my electorate office window in those early days of COVID and seeing those lines of folks outside the Centrelink office, which is across the road from my office. How uncertain and desperate those times were. But we have answered the call on this side of the House. JobKeeper was a game changer. Our tourism initiatives have been a blessing and a lifeline to the tourism sector. We on this side of the House have been there when the industry and the sector have needed us, and we have answered that call.

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