Coronavirus: Coalition MPs’ aid plea for tourism sector

Queensland Coalition backbenchers have called for Scott Morrison to extend or refine JobKeeper for the tourism sector.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Cairns MP Michael Healy on Thursday. Picture: Brian Cassey

Queensland Coalition backbenchers have called for Scott Morrison to extend or refine JobKeeper for the tourism sector but criticised ­Annastacia Palaszczuk for weakening the ­industry by closing the state’s borders.

Speaking from Cairns on Thursday, the Queensland Premier announced an end to border restrictions on Greater Sydney from February 1 and called on the Prime Minister to forego the scheduled March ­expiry of JobKeeper for the tourism sector.

She was joined Cairns MP Michael Healy, a former tourism operator, who echoed the tagline of the campaign run during Mr Morrison’s time at Tourism Australia by asking the Prime Minister and Leichardt MP Warren Entsch: “Where the bloody hell are you?”

Mr Entsch accused the Premier of “playing politics”. “Playing the political card played very much into her hand in the state election but she can’t do that and destroy an economy and then put her hand out and say it’s the federal government’s fault and that they have to step up,” Mr Entsch said. “We will continue to support them, but she knew very well that shutting the borders would have a huge impact on the industry.”

Mr Entsch said he was “confident” the support the industry required would continue in JobKeeper or another form.

Dawson MP George Christensen also said he supported extending JobKeeper for the tourism industry and providing easier access to the government’s JobMaker program.

Ms Palaszczuk said it would be a mistake to scrap JobKeeper before international borders ­reopened.

“Regions such as Cairns, the Whitsundays and the Gold Coast that rely on tourism will be worst hit,” the Premier said.

Queensland Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said JobKeeper had been a “useful tool” for the industry and called on his federal counterpart Dan Tehan to finetune it to support the tourism industry in regions that traditionally relied on international visitors.

Chairman of Tourism Tropical North Queensland Ken Chapman said ending Job­Keeper in March would make things “very difficult for this part of the world”.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg defended the Morrison government’s assistance for Queensland during the pandemic, saying it had delivered “unprecedented economic support” that was multiple times higher than the Palaszczuk government’s package.

“As the single largest economic support program in Australia’s history, JobKeeper was always meant to be a temporary payment. As it tapers off, a number of other federal government economic support measures will continue to benefit Queenslanders,” he said.

“The JobMaker hiring credit, tax cuts, investment incentives and infrastructure investment, among others will help create jobs as our economic recovery continues.”