Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister please update the House on how sticking to the national plan will support Australia's tourism sector and ready it for when it opens back up?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for asking the right question! I also thank the member for his passionate advocacy on behalf of the tourism industry in Far North Queensland. I know that there's no-one waiting more than the member for southerners to be able to return to those crocodile farms in Far North Queensland in their droves and to put dollars into the local economy, local accommodation and local pubs. I know he was very grateful when the Queensland state government and the federal government were able to come together and provide a package of $600 million to support businesses in Queensland, including tourism businesses in Far North Queensland. There was an announcement today made by the Treasurer about the additional changes to the small loans guarantees for small businesses, which will also help the tourism sector right across Australia. I think there's no doubt that the national plan will be greeted by the tourism industry, probably more so than any other industry across this nation, because the impact that this pandemic has had on the domestic tourism industry and on our international tourism industry has been severe.

And the fact that we now have a national plan which details a way out of this pandemic, which lays out how we can learn to live with this virus, has been extremely welcomed by the tourism industry. And why is that so? Because when we reach phase B, which is a 70 per cent vaccination rate, Australians will have more freedom—to go to see their loved ones and go to sporting events—and that means travel and that means dollars in the tourism business, and it means jobs. And then when we reach phase C, when we see 80 per cent are fully vaccinated, outbound international restrictions will be lifted and travel bubbles will be expanded. So not only will we have the travel bubble with New Zealand but the Pacific Islands, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the US, the UK are all possibilities that we'll be able to extend our travel bubbles to. And what does that mean? It means dollars into tourism businesses and, more importantly, it means security for the 660,000 people who are employed in our tourism industry. This is why the tourism industry has got behind promoting our vaccination rollout. We've all seen the Qantas ad, which on many occasions has brought a tear to this eye. And that is why we need to— (Time expired)