Mr HAWKER(12.16 p.m.) —I am very pleased to be able to join in this debate on the Export Market Development Grants (Repeal and Consequential Provisions) Bill 1997 and the Export Market Development Grants Bill 1997 and to follow the Minister for Administrative Services (Mr Jull), who has just given one his very erudite exposes on the value of the tourism industry for Australia and the export dollars that it earns. I think everyone in this chamber would know that not only does he have an abiding and passionate interest in tourism but also he would easily be the most knowledgeable person in the chamber when it comes to talking about tourism. When this minister gives his endorsement to something, I am sure all honourable members would know that it is something very important and worth while.

I would suggest that this legislation with its endorsement by the minister shows that the government does have a very real and ongoing commitment—not only through the export market development grants scheme in association with this legislation but in expanding that scheme to include the tourism industry—and that we recognise this is a very important, very big but also, more importantly, very rapidly growing area that Australia has benefited from, particularly because of our geographical location and the fact that we are now starting to market ourselves in a way that gives us access to such a huge source in the region. I think the growth in the number of visitors from overseas in recent years coming to this country, particularly from some of the Asian countries, is nothing short of phenomenal.

I think, with the changes we have put in this legislation, we are recognising that the majority of small operators are the ones who can benefit from this. We are giving them that opportunity to expand their markets and at the same time, of course, earn those badly needed export dollars.

As I have said, this legislation does very much recognise the importance of small business, and I think that is something that this government, particularly the Prime Minister (Mr Howard), has shown that we are very much committed to. With this change, I think we do expand that commitment and show that we are continuing to make sure we give small business the encouragement it desperately needs not only to continue but also to expand and, most importantly of course, to employ more people. We recognise that the opportunities for reducing unemployment will be coming very much from the small business sector.

Another important point to note about this legislation is that it will lower the threshold that business must spend to receive the grants from $30,000 to $20,000. I believe that that is something that recognises some of the challenges small businesses face when they try to seek out new markets overseas and the fact that for many of them it is not easy. By giving this incentive, we believe that it will encourage more to have a go. As we are well aware, not only have we inherited some budgetary problems from the previous government but also Australia as a nation does have a trading imbalance that we desperately need to reverse, and this is part of helping to attack that problem.

It is also important to note that, for the tourism operators, the rate payable for expenditure will rise from 25c in the dollar to 50c in the dollar. This will provide a service to all sectors of the tourism industry, not just the single service providers. So, again, I think it is very important to note that this legislation is recognising the industry as whole.

A further important point to note about the legislation is that it will reduce some of the complexities. In fact, it has halved the length of the legislation, making it somewhat easier to appreciate. As people would be aware, under the export market development grants, claims can still be a maximum of $200,000 by any one business. There is a qualification on that which recognises that there is an upper limit to the amount of money that the budget will allocate in any one year for the whole scheme.

But it is important to note also that 70 per cent of the claims are for under $50,000, and of course they will all get the full grant. So it really is, I think, a very more part of the government's involvement in developing exports in this nation.

It is important also to note that this legislation repeals the 1974 export market development grants scheme, and it deals with all the matters that arise from that repeal. It also has a number of other major effects, but I think I would just like to concentrate on the importance it will have for a number of tourism operators in western Victoria and, in particular, in my electorate of Wannon. I think this does provide some tremendous opportunities to encourage the local tourist operators. Not only have they worked very hard to be part of the intrastate development of tourism in Victoria but also they have worked very hard at the interstate and, indeed, international level.

I well recall some years ago, when leaving with a delegation to go to Japan, speaking to the then Warrnambool City Council and asked whether they had any promotional material they would like me to take. I must admit that I had mixed feelings when I felt the weight of what I had been given. But I was very impressed to see that amongst some of that material, which included videos, was one in Japanese. I think that shows the sort of level of understanding and commitment some of the local tourism operators have when it comes to attracting overseas tourists into western Victoria.

It is also important to note that three-quarters of Victoria's 15 million overnight visitors spent time in regional or rural areas, so obviously the opportunities are there for regional operators, and particularly local operators in western Victoria, to capitalise on this. A tourism survey in Victoria last year found that the Great Ocean Road, which is one of the great icons not only of Victoria but of Australia, was the most popular area in regional Victoria. It attracted 2.1 million overnight stays and 2.8 million day trips. This is in very large part due to the work of Shipwreck Coast Tourism, which has worked very hard with local operators along the Great Ocean Road all the way to Port Fairy to promote the area and to ensure that we do attract as many tourists as we can into the region.

These operations are not just for the region; they have also been promoting them in other parts of Australia. In fact, they have been promoting them overseas, as I mentioned, not only through the local member but in a number of initiatives of their own. I think it is to the credit of Shipwreck Coast Tourism that they have been named the No. 1 regional association in Victoria in 1993, in 1994 and again in 1995. It is something that I am very proud of and I think the people of western Victoria are also very proud of. Of course, the only reason they did not get there in 1996 was that, having had three consecutive wins, they did not feel it was right to enter the fourth year.

Mr Jull —Poor excuse!

Mr HAWKER —The record has been established, hasn't it? It will take a while for someone to match that.

I would like to talk about a couple of other areas in my region as well that I think this bill is going to help promote, particularly through the local tourism operators. If we look at the Grampians region in western Victoria, again a very large tourism destination, in 1995 over 500,000 people visited the Grampians region. The stay here tended to be longer, an average of 3.6 nights. Again, this is largely due to the work of some of the local bodies and in particular the shires of the Southern Grampians and the Northern Grampians, which have worked very hard to attract visitors and to ensure that there is ongoing patronage of the region. I believe they are working very well. Of these 500,000 people, 75 per cent came from Victoria, 24 per cent came from interstate and only one per cent came from overseas, so I think we do have some big opportunities here to expand that. I believe that people from overseas, when they get an opportunity to see the region, cannot fail to be impressed by some of the great scenery and the many other attractions that the region has got.

What this bill also does is to address the concern of the tourist operators in the region where they have felt that in the past export market development grants have been too hard to access. Many, I know, are keen to take advantage of it, not only those who operate motels and so on but even the coach operators, who feel there are probably going to be some opportunities to take advantage of this.

As I said earlier, this bill is half the size of the previous one. That shows that not only is this government committed to reducing paperwork for small business but we are actually committed to making understanding of the legislation a lot easier too. When we look at the bill, the number of categories under which people can qualify for support has been reduced from 11 to six. These are overseas representation, overseas marketing visits, communications, free samples, trade fairs and advertising and short-term consultancy. So I think this does focus export market development grants very much into the areas we can get maximum benefit from, and I congratulate the Minister for Trade (Mr Tim Fischer) for the work he has done here. It certainly shows that he is very much in touch with what is needed and understands the way we can get the maximum benefits from this government expenditure.

It is interesting to note some of the things that have been removed from the old scheme. They include patents, labelling, unmatched eligible expenditure, foreign language training, educational courses, tenders and quotations, free technical information, overseas visitors to Australia, subscriptions to industry associations, prescribed services in the construction industry, half-yearly claims and trusts. It is an interesting long list which tried to include everyone. Bringing it down to six I think helps a lot in focusing the scheme very much towards the people who will get the maximum benefit.

As I said, it will be much easier for smaller operators to access grants with the threshold being cut from $30,000 to $20,000, which means, of course, that people will qualify more easily and not have to outlay as much to get access. Applicants with incomes greater than $50 million a year will not be able to access it, which I think is fair enough. That recognises that we have to target the support to those who most need it and will most benefit.

In conclusion, it is important for me just to reiterate that I believe that these changes to the export market development scheme are positive and that they focus the scheme very much towards the small business end of export development. I think all of us have had experiences where we have seen that small businesses have really worked very hard to get export opportunities and have never found it easy. It is much harder in many cases than trying to expand locally, yet we all recognise the importance of making sure that our businesses do expand.

The important addition here is to include the tourism operators and in particular the small tourism operators. That shows that this government does have a very real commitment to assisting in this area. I believe that the region I come from is one of the really great parts of Australia and I know that many tourism operators are already keen to take advantage of these opportunities to develop what is already a very successful series of tourism operations in western Victoria. They are keen to expand tourism so that we not only have more opportunities for jobs in the region but we also get our fair share of the overseas dollars that are coming in and therefore can make our contribution to the national interest. This will give the region the opportunity to be very proud of the achievements it has had up to date and will be building on. I support the bill.