Mr JOHNSON (4:35 PM) —Today in the parliament I spoke on the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill 2005. I was very delighted to speak on that because it is all about securing the future prosperity of this country and bringing jobs to the young people of Australia and indeed all Australians, particularly those Australians who live in my electorate of Ryan. It is a momentous bill and it is all about business. I want to continue that theme this afternoon but particularly in relation to the tourism industry—and I am delighted to see that the Minister for Small Business and Tourism is in the chamber as I speak. We have just heard the shadow minister for public accountability give another antibusiness diatribe. His contributions in this parliament are always wrapped in grubby attacks and below the belt verballing of companies that are doing legal business in this country.

Tourism in this country is all about jobs and I want to refer to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Fig Tree Pocket, which employs many Australians; indeed, many young Australians are employed there. Those at the sanctuary were delighted by the news this week about the prospects of receiving more Chinese tourists from mainland China, the People’s Republic of China. Earlier this week the government announced that a significant number of Chinese will be able to come to this country, consistent with an agreement that the Australian government and the Chinese government have signed. The new agreement between the two governments, through the China National Tourism Administration, approved potentially 850 million to 900 million Chinese visiting this country. Of course, we do not expect that many to come here but we would be delighted with many hundreds of thousands coming, because they will continue to provide jobs in this country.

The Approved Destination Status scheme—the ADS scheme—is a bilateral scheme which enables Chinese tourists to visit Australia on group tours. Australia was the first Western country to be designated as an approved destination for tourists from China. The new agreement was announced in China recently by Senator the Hon. Amanda Vanstone and very strongly supported by the Minister for Small Business and Tourism and her department:

This country is experiencing enormous growth. China is a nation that we consider very important to our bilateral relations and, with a free trade agreement being discussed at the moment between the two countries, this further reflects the enormous potential for business and for commerce to grow between our businesspeople and those entrepreneurs in a mainland China. The minister for tourism went on:

I am delighted to play a small part in fostering exchanges and visits between our two countries in terms of Chinese businesspeople coming to this country and also to provide opportunities for Australian businesses, including those in my Ryan electorate, to engage in commercial relationships in China.

China is currently the fifth largest source of tourists and it is forecast to be the second largest by 2013-14. Visitor arrivals from China are forecast to grow from 286,000—almost 300,000—for 2004-05 to in excess of 1.1 million within the decade. This is an average annual growth of 16.5 per cent. The real market value of Chinese visitors in 2005 is forecast to be some $1.5 billion and it is forecast to increase to $5.9 billion by 2014. This is good for Australians because it is going to contribute to providing jobs throughout the country for our young people. It is going to provide opportunities for those in hospitality and in retail. I am sure that the opposition would support the government in this endeavour, because it is all about providing jobs for people in this country and, in my case as the federal member for Ryan, providing as many opportunities as possible for people in Ryan to take on jobs. The hospitality sector, the retail sector and the tourism industry are very significant to this nation’s economy. I encourage all members of the parliament to speak very strongly about this policy, about this initiative and about this agreement because it is in the interests of all Australians. (Time expired)