Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table responses to questions taken on notice during question time on 4 February 2021, asked by Senator Green, relating to the tourism industry. I seek leave to have the document incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

Dear President

In Question Time on 4 February 2021, I took two questions on notice from Senator Green regarding the tourism industry.

Responses to these questions are enclosed.

I trust that this addresses Senator Green's concerns.

Yours sincerely

MARISE PAYNE

JobKeeper Payment: Tourism

Senator GREEN (14:14): Tourism operators in Cairns have warned the Morrison government that thousands of jobs will be lost if JobKeeper isn't extended ... Treasury data shows that 3,600 businesses in Cairns are relying on JobKeeper, more than in any other postcode in Queensland. How many jobs will be lost in Cairns when JobKeeper ends in March?

Response:

The JobKeeper Payment has provided unprecedented support to millions of Australians. However, JobKeeper was always intended to be emergency temporary support and is just one part of the Government's economic response to support Australians during the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. JobKeeper was designed to deliver support quickly and at scale and it has achieved its objective of keeping business in business and Australians in jobs. The next phase of the recovery is to create incentives for businesses to hire. The Treasury closely monitors the labour market' as a matter of course, and employment outcomes have been stronger than expected in the months since the most recent forecasts were published. This includes a steady reduction in the number of people working reduced hours for economic reasons. Analysis of the labour market to-date shows a very large proportion of employees who rolled off JobKeeper support in September have remained employed. In the region of Cairns, specifically, the most recent data shows that the number of people relying on JobKeeper has fallen by 55 per cent.

COVID-19: Tourism

Senator GREEN (14:15}; / do have another question. Minister, out of the $659 million [in funding provided for tourism related programs] that you spruiked on Tuesday, how much of that financial support has actually been received by affected businesses?

Response:

Tourism Australia Funding-$231 million: these funds are provided to Tourism Australia for marketing purposes and are not intended to be allocated to businesses.

Consumer Travel Support-$128 million: as at 11 March 2021, $88 million in grant funding has been paid. 2,531 travel agents have received payments under the program and another 516 are being processed.

Recovery for Regional Tourism-$50 million: the full $50 million has been allocated to tourism regions across Australia with applications for funding open until 30 September 2021.

Business Events Grants-$50 million: As at 12 March 2021, almost $8 million has been approved, with $3.2 million paid. On 11 March 2021 the Government announced an extension to the program, to support events held until 31 March 2022, to allow events that were postponed in early 2021 to benefit from this assistance.

Building Better Regions Tourism Infrastructure Round-$100 million: as indicated on the grant website, announcement of decisions in relation to Round 5 applications are expected in mid-2021.

Regional Recovery Partnerships-$100 million: Consultations with state and local governments, industry, local development and community organisations on proposed priority projects for funding under the Partnerships have begun. Implementation workshops in each of the Partnerships regions will be held in early 2021 to bring together Commonwealth, state and local government representatives and industry and community organisations to identify clear implementation plans and desired outcomes for the selected projects funded under the Regional Recovery Partnerships.