Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the impact of the coronavirus in regional Queensland, particularly on the tourism sector and the thousands of local jobs supported directly and indirectly by tourism. The coronavirus outbreak and Chinese travel ban have impacted visitation numbers to North Queensland significantly and they have delivered a serious economic blow to the region. Chinese tourists are so important to the North Queensland economy and to lose them at this time comes at an economic cost. We know that many other industries have also been affected, including our seafood and education industries.

Tourism is vital to the North Queensland economy. It directly supports more than 20,000 jobs or close to one-fifth of all employment in the region. Of the 849,000 international visitors to tropical North Queensland last year, more than 200,000 were Chinese tourists. We have seen tens of thousands of booking cancellations, millions of dollars ripped from the local economy and a worst-case scenario of up to 1,800 local jobs at risk in tropical North Queensland alone. Today, Virgin Australia announced that they will withdraw their Tiger flights from Sydney to Cairns from 27 April 2020. Last week, Qantas put a temporary stop on the Jetstar Cairns-to-Japan route as well. TTNQ has estimated that, for every month the travel ban remains in place, my home of Far North Queensland will lose $25 million.

Labor recognise that the government's travel ban is based on medical advice, and we support those measures to protect Australians. We appreciate the measures that have been taken and the advice on those measures that has been provided by the Chief Medical Officer. Everyone now acknowledges the economic impact these travel bans are having on the national economy, and Labor stand ready to be as constructive as possible in proposing ways to deal with the economic fallout from this substantial economic challenge.

However, what we are not seeing is a plan in place to ensure that local jobs and industries remain strong and resilient and are ready to recover on day one of the ban being lifted. What we are not seeing is an acknowledgement that people will lose their jobs and that businesses are suffering from the uncertainty of this situation. Australian businesses affected by this ban aren't asking for much, but what they do want to know is that they are being listened to. Sometimes leadership in a crisis means showing up and listening to locals, and that is not what we are getting from the federal government.

The Queensland Labor government not only have turned up in North Queensland but have put practical support on the table. They have delivered $3.8 million to support domestic and international marketing campaigns. They've also issued $27 million in stimulus packages for the tourism and fishing industries, with fees waived. And, earlier this week, Cairns Airport even put half a million dollars on the table to support TTNQ's marketing efforts. We know that business and local and state governments are united in their calls for action. They've turned up to public meetings, they are on the ground and they are listening. Federal Labor is listening. Just last Friday, I joined Labor's shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, in Cairns to speak directly to businesses affected by the coronavirus and ongoing bushfires. It was fantastic to have him come up and visit and to hear from tourism operators firsthand. This also came after I launched a regional tourism jobs campaign to encourage more people to spend their holidays in beautiful North Queensland.

Unfortunately, North Queensland is yet to hear anything close to a plan from this Liberal-National government. Twelve days ago, I called on the Prime Minister to visit the region and speak to businesses and people affected by the crisis directly. The Cairns Post front page on Valentine's Day was a letter to the PM. It said: 'Dear PM, We need your help.' Yet North Queensland is left wondering, 'Where the bloody hell are you, Scott Morrison?' It speaks volumes that the local member, Warren Entsch, last week told reporters that federal ministers should stay away from Cairns. He told them not to come—not to come and listen to locals about their concerns. Clearly, Mr Entsch knows, as well as anyone, that this is a government that do not care, that do not have a plan and that do not show up when people need them.

Following the Shadow Treasurer's visit to Cairns, the member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, told reporters:

There is another $25 million, additional money, that will be coming out very shortly, possibly as early as tomorrow. This will be specifically going to Tourism Australia for Queensland, and to be able to look at markets. We don't know what's happening here, but we are in the position where, whatever is needed to do it, the money will be rolled out.

That's what Mr Entsch said in Cairns to the people of Cairns, who are struggling to understand where they go to from here. But, given that, yesterday, the Prime Minister stopped short of providing that funding and ruled out any compensation for sectors like education and tourism affected by coronavirus, it is a concern that members of the community in Cairns are being led astray by Mr Entsch. Clearly, the member for Leichhardt is saying one thing to news cameras in Far North Queensland and another thing in Canberra. Mr Entsch should come clean with local businesses about the comments that he made last Friday.

At the very least, the government should come up with a plan for tourism operators badly affected by this crisis. The state government are doing what they can, council is doing what it can, and businesses are also doing whatever they can to prepare and to be ready for that day one plan. But it's the federal government which is the missing piece of this puzzle.

I do want to make one thing very clear—and this has been a major concern for businesses in regional Queensland. The government are out there saying that, because of their budget, Australia is able to address a crisis like coronavirus. But, importantly, they are also saying that the tourism sector will recover because domestic travel will apparently increase. This government desperately wants Australians to forget that the economy was already floundering and wages had been stagnant before the bushfires hit or anyone had heard of coronavirus. Last year we saw shopfronts closing in streets all across regional Queensland, which tells a very different story from that the government is telling the people of Australia. We've seen full-time workers struggling to pay their bills because their wages are not keeping up with the cost of living; yet we're expected to believe that they will have enough money for a domestic holiday this year.

Since Scott Morrison began Prime Minister, economic growth has almost halved, wages have remained stagnant, business investment has been weak and public and household debt have been at record highs. Because of the government's failures to steer the economy in the right direction, they are underprepared to deal with crises such as bushfires and coronavirus.

Sadly, regional areas like North Queensland have left on their own in a time of crisis. The government's inaction has gone on for too long, and it's time that the Prime Minister and Mr Entsch came to the table and did their jobs. Businesses and workers aren't asking for much. They want support, they want advice and they want a plan to know that, on day one, when the bans are lifted, they'll be well placed to recover as quickly as possible from this crisis. During times of crisis, it is normally a given to expect that governments will show up—that that is the very least that they can do. But we know, Cairns knows, that, in times of crisis, the Prime Minister doesn't show up where he's needed the most.