Workplace reform, open borders will boost tourism

Despite the strength of the post-COVID economic recovery, Australia’s tourism industry is still facing big challenges. From Broome to Tasmania, Cape York to Victoria, a third of the nation has suffered a drop in visitor numbers of 40 per cent or more. The devastation wrought by border closures and the halt to international visitors is not confined to a couple of hotspots in Queensland, Rosie Lewis reports on Monday. While a third of towns and cities have seen some positive growth, this is due mainly to domestic day visitors, who spend far less than overnight travellers and international tourists.

As tourism businesses prepare for the end of JobKeeper on March 28, Australian Tourism Industry Council executive director Simon Westaway is predicting mass redundancies. Tourism Minister Dan Tehan is urging Australians to do their “patriotic duty” and take a holiday at home this year to help the struggling sector. And Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has resorted to giving Queenslanders 15,000 travel vouchers, worth up to $200 apiece, to visit Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. She wants Josh Frydenberg to extend the JobKeeper subsidy for the tourism sector. The Treasurer, who is in Queensland, could outline the government’s economic support plans as early as Friday. Well targeted assistance funded by taxpayers, however, can be no more than a stop gap. As Mr Frydenberg says, more than 70 per cent of those who were on JobKeeper in the Wide Bay, Townsville, Mackay and Whitsunday regions have come off it. So have more than 65 per cent of those on JobKeeper on the Sunshine Coast and 55 per cent in Cairns.

The return of the industry to full strength will depend on several factors. First will be the success of the vaccination program in Australia and in our overseas tourist markets, which will allow international borders to be lifted when it is safe to do so. Second, if state leaders want to protect the industry and jobs in the meantime, it is vital they avoid further lockdowns and state border closures. The inconvenience, fear of being stranded away from home and anxiety about having to quarantine at heavy personal expense have thrown a dampener on many domestic holiday plans. State border closures, or merely the threat of them, have left confidence among potential travellers at an all-time low, according to Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond. “That is why, as the vaccine is rolled out, TTF calls on national cabinet to commit to put politics and state electioneering aside and commit to keeping state borders open once and for all.”

Third and most important in the long run, the Morrison government’s industrial relations reforms are vital for recovery, efficiency in the sector and job security. In the interests of workers and businesses, Senate crossbenchers should not take advantage of the absence of Attorney-General and Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter to force a delay in the legislation. As Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry industrial relations director Scott Barklamb says, with JobKeeper ending soon small businesses still struggling with restrictions and reduced trade cannot be the collateral damage of politicians’ attention being focused elsewhere. Tourism enterprises and their staff need flexibility to meet the demands of a 24/7 industry with boom periods and quieter seasons. Crossbenchers should work with acting Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash and pass the omnibus bill in the national interest.