‘Matter of days’: Tourism package of grants and loans to replace JobKeeper

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‘Matter of days’: Tourism package of grants and loans to replace JobKeeper

By Shane Wright

Low-interest loans and cash grants targeted directly at tourism-related businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic will feature in a sector rescue package to be unveiled by the Morrison government within days.

Ahead of the end of the $90 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy program in three weeks’ time, the government has almost finalised elements of a special package that will include support for airlines, mum-and-dad tourist service operators and accommodation outlets.

Tourist centres such as Cairns, a jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef, have suffered heavily due to the coronavirus pandemic. A special assistance package is due to be released within days.

Tourist centres such as Cairns, a jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef, have suffered heavily due to the coronavirus pandemic. A special assistance package is due to be released within days.

The package, which is being driven by new Tourism Minister Dan Tehan and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, is being pulled together because the sector has so badly affected by the pandemic.

There has been a drop of 41 million domestic passenger airline flights over the past 12 months with tourist operators hard hit by rolling state border closures. The closure of the international border has also affected parts of the country heavily dependent on overseas visitors.

Mr Frydenberg, who visited the far north Queensland tourism city of Cairns on Monday, said a targeted package of support would be finalised in “a matter of days”.

“These are important issues that we’ve been working on for some time. We’ve done an extensive amount of work,” he said.

“It’s about targeting that support but also providing opportunities for those who are doing okay to even take on more workers, which is going to be good news for people across the country.”

Direct cash payments to particular businesses hit hardest by the pandemic are expected to form part of the package along with low-interest, government-backed loans.

The sector has told the government that short-term support may only be necessary, with expectations the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine will boost traveller confidence in taking holidays within Australia.

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The industry also believes the vaccine will make it much more difficult for premiers to shut borders.

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There are now fewer than one million people on JobKeeper but a disproportionate number of those are in tourism-related areas such as aviation.

Tourism-dependent parts of the country have also suffered larger job losses than those reliant on a broader range of industries.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the number of people on payrolls across Cairns and Townsville is down 5 per cent on March last year, compared to a Queensland state average of 1.7 per cent.

Inner-city Sydney has lost 6.3 per cent of its payroll numbers compared to a NSW average of 2 per cent while the number of people in inner Melbourne on payroll is down 9.1 per cent compared to a Victorian average of 3.7 per cent.

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Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is also in Cairns, said it was vital the government looked to support the tourism sector as it would suffer when the JobKeeper program ended.

“Nobody is saying that JobKeeper needs to go on forever. What we are saying is that the JobKeeper program needs to be tailored to what’s actually going on, on the ground in local communities and local economies like this one,” he said.

“My fear is that the government doesn’t understand that places like Cairns are still struggling because they rely on international visitors.”

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