Coronavirus: Hospitality and tourism chiefs hopeful of help

The tourism industry is consulting with the government on a limited extension of JobKeeper after March 28, while the hospitality sector is in talks with Treasury about ongoing ­financial assistance.

Restaurant and Catering Australia chief executive Wes Lambert.

The tourism industry is consulting with the Morrison government on a limited extension of JobKeeper after March 28, while the hospitality sector is in talks with Treasury about ongoing ­financial assistance for accommodation and food services businesses once the $90bn pandemic wage subsidy scheme ends.

Both industries, which are considered among the hardest hit by border closures and COVID-19 restrictions, are hopeful that the government is listening and will ­deliver on targeted funding.

It comes as Josh Frydenberg pledged to continue “strongly supporting” the accommodation and food services sector, after Restaurant and Catering chief executive Wes Lambert wrote to the Treasurer pitching a new wage subsidy scheme called “HospoKeeper”, as revealed in The Australian.

“I have received the letter (from Mr Lambert) and will be responding shortly,” the Treasurer said. “The accommodation and food services industry is a very important part of the economy employing many Australians and has been hit hard by this crisis.

“The government … continues to strongly support this sector, as we want them — like other industries across the economy — to successfully get to the other side of this crisis.”

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond, whose organisation represents leading tourism, transport and aviation businesses, said Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan had been “highly receptive” in talks about what JobKeeper might look like after March 28, when the scheme is ­legislated to end.

“The industry is conscious it needs to help the government ­assess how you would carve out tourism if you were to continue JobKeeper for this sector. What is the right set of criteria for how that could work?” she said.

“That conversation is under way. It would be premature to say the government is not listening — they are willing to have the conversation.”

Mr Tehan said the government was committed to working with the sector to address the challenges that have emerged due to COVID-19. He said it was paramount all levels of government worked together “to provide ­national policy certainty and ­uniformity” to drive the recovery.

Mr Lambert said Treasury had reached out as recently as Wednesday to discuss what stimulus for the most-affected industries would look like from April.

“They welcomed our (HospoKeeper) proposal and certainly gave the impression they are working on potential solutions post-JobKeeper,” he said.

“There’s no indication what (those solutions might look like), but there certainly are productive discussions and we hope the Prime Minister and Treasurer deliver on their promise of targeted, bespoke stimulus for the hardest-hit industries.”

Scott Morrison on Wednesday declared the economy “can’t run on government money forever”, as he warned industries calling for the extension of JobKeeper that the taxpayer-funded payments would not continue “endlessly”.

However, he added: “We will keep looking at the information and take it step by step. There are still sectors that, you know, are struggling.”