Federation Chamber
Monday 15 February 2021

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'—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Irons ): No props—the member for Oxley will put that prop down.

Mr DICK: 'Praying for keeps'—it's a front-page story:

More than 250,000 Queenslanders were still relying on JobKeeper towards the end of last year, with fears there will be job losses across crucial industries - particularly tourism - when the subsidy dries up next month.

New Treasury figures reveal more than 500,000 JobKeeper recipients have come off the pandemic subsidy, but some key tourism hot spots have remain disproportionately impacted.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief Daniel Gschwind said that many operators would 'shed jobs' without government support. He said, 'We hold a lot of concerns for operators around the state. It's very visible in Cairns, but the same applies for the Gold Coast.

When I was in Cairns last week as part of the federal opposition's jobs task force, I met with a number of businesses, and the Leader of the Opposition heard firsthand about exactly what is happening in regional and Far North Queensland. We heard over and over again that people are reliant on tourists, particularly international travellers, for their survival. So, this makes it an issue of federal concern. I don't want any more speeches in this chamber about how hard the industry has worked. I don't want any more cheap words in this chamber about what the government could be doing, what the government should be doing. We know what the industry has asked for. The postcode of Cairns has the highest amount of JobKeeper of any postcode in Queensland.

It is not rocket science. The minister was there the same day I was in Cairns, and what did he come and do? He offered absolutely nothing: nothing to the tourist operators, nothing to the hospitality industry. One vendor told us in January last year that they had 530 guests going out to sea on the reef that day. At the same time this year it was 27 guests. Then we have all the nonsense from the government saying: 'It's something to do with the Queensland borders. It's something to do with Annastacia Palaszczuk. It's something to do with Gladys Berejiklian.' What rot. Seventy per cent of the tourist dollars come from overseas in Cairns, and this government tries to have a fig leaf and say, 'It's something to do with border closures.' It is nonsense.

Instead of ignoring the tourist operators, the businesses are crying out for help. The JobKeeper repeal, which this government has committed to by the end of March, will see the industry drop off a cliff. More than 250,000 people in Queensland alone are still counting on it for survival. The government says on one hand the economy is recovering well, 'building back' or whatever is the latest marketing slogan the Prime Minister is on about. In reality it's working from the same old playbook, looking after itself this time by using businesses in metropolitan areas that are doing well as an excuse to rip money away from regional businesses, whose revenue is still down and who may never recover without ongoing subsidies.

So today I call on the government. I want clear answers about what's replacing JobKeeper for the struggling tourism sector in Queensland at the end of March. We need an industry-specific support package. Talk to the tourism operators; they'll tell you exactly what they need. If you don't have a plan, continue JobKeeper. Protect jobs, invest in skills, look after the national asset that is our tourism industry, built up through so many decades. Our economy in Queensland relies on JobKeeper—the tourism sector right up and down the coast, from Cairns to the Whitsundays to Hervey Bay, right down to the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. This shouldn't be a debate we're having in this parliament. This government should be looking after the tourism industry.

Talk is cheap. Today I call on the Morrison government to do the right thing and support JobKeeper for tourism in Queensland.