Mr CIOBO (12:35 PM) —The past several weeks have certainly been big for the tourism industry in Australia and particularly for the Gold Coast, Australia’s premier tourism destination. I am very pleased that over 20 per cent of the people in my electorate are directly or indirectly employed in the tourism industry and that some 35 per cent of our local economy is made off the back of the tourism industry. It is a vibrant industry that provides excellent career opportunities and that I believe will go from strength to strength.

In many respects, the success of the tourism industry is borne upon the ability of people to travel. By definition, tourism is the travelling of people from one destination to another to have new experiences, to enjoy new delights, to have the opportunity to learn more about other cultures and, of course, to participate in a range of activities. The Gold Coast offers more than most—that is part of our natural competitive advantage. A key debate taking place of late, though, relates to the provision of airline services to the Gold Coast. It is Australia’s sixth largest city and it is rapidly growing. There has been a very strong push of late regarding the need for more transport infrastructure to the city, particularly for the resumption of airline services by Qantas.

The Gold Coast continues to prosper in terms of the demand for tourism. In many respects that has been brought about by two key changes recently in the dynamics of the airline travel market  into the Gold Coast. One of these was the commencement of the low-cost carrier airline, Virgin Blue, and the other was the initiation of Qantas’s no-frills carrier, Jetstar. Both of these airlines have played a very significant role in attracting new tourists to the Gold Coast. Both of these airlines have played a very significant role in growing the market pie, so to speak—attracting more people and providing more opportunities for people to travel to holiday destinations like the Gold Coast. Nonetheless, there has been a very strong view within elements of the Gold Coast community that this has come about, in some part, at the expense of the city’s business base and its premium-yield clients, business tourists. There has been some angst in the Gold Coast community that Qantas has not been able to satisfy the demand for additional services and additional scheduled Qantas flights in and out of the Gold Coast.

I have spoken about this issue with Qantas on many occasions. I must state very clearly on the record that Qantas has always demonstrated an openness and a willingness to have conversations about the long-term sustainability and the best shape of the Gold Coast inbound travel market. Whilst I certainly understand the concerns a number of tour operators, chambers of commerce and business leaders have about the need for Qantas’s premium brand to fly into the Gold Coast, it is very clear that a business case must be made. Qantas has always demonstrated to me a willingness to talk, but also it has stated very clearly that there must be a commercially sustainable business case put to it for additional flights beyond the two a day now made to the Gold Coast.

Tourism operators in my city certainly want to have an additional lunchtime flight by Qantas into the Gold Coast that would enable better interlining for inbound international passengers. But it is very important that, instead of simply calling for this, we demonstrate that it can be done in a sustainable way. I note that Virgin Blue recently announced that it would be providing business class services on its traditionally no-frills carrier. This decision tends to demonstrate to me that a business case can be made. I call upon all those in the Gold Coast tourism industry to join with me in putting together a case to demonstrate the merits of Qantas re-establishing more services beyond the two flights a day that it currently has into the Gold Coast. We certainly have the ability to put a rational argument that there is demand, especially when Virgin Blue, a competitive carrier, has made announcements about  going down that path. We welcome the commitment from Virgin Blue, we are thankful for Jetstar’s contribution to the Gold Coast economy, and we are grateful that Qantas provides the services that it does. But we will continue to push for more services, believing it to be a win-win situation both for Qantas as a premium carrier and for the Gold Coast. (Time expired)