THE Federal Government has been asked to include Mildura in its discounted airline ticket scheme to help restart the tourism sector.
The post-JobKeeper aviation and tourism rescue package will offer discounted flights to more than dozen regions between April 1 and July 31 with Mildura excluded from the initial list of destinations.
Victorian Labor Senator Jess Walsh told Federal Parliament this week the tourism industry was critical for the economy as a whole and “especially important for those regional communities which rely almost entirely on tourism”.
Ms Walsh said the tourism sector had been “doing it extremely hard” because of COVID-19, which had impacts for regional communities and individuals who were relying on the JobKeeper lifeline, which ends in a fortnight.
She said Victorian Tourism Minister Martin Pakula had written to his federal counterpart asking that four additional destinations be included in the government’s “poorly targeted tourism package”.
“Minister Pakula has been frank in saying, ‘Somewhere in the Canberra bubble there seems to be a misunderstanding of how Victorian tourism works’,” Ms Walsh said.
“He went on to say, ‘Regional and metropolitan tourism recovery is too important for it to be coloured by the electoral map’.”
Ms Walsh said Mr Pakula had asked that Melbourne Airport, as well as regional airports in Mildura, Bendigo and Albury in New South Wales, be included in the scheme.
“Given the government’s on-again, off-again naming of locations in this scheme, Victorians will have to watch closely to see whether their airports and towns make it on to the list, and indeed, if they do, whether they stay on the list,” she said.
“Let’s face it, this scheme is an absolute shambles and it has been a shambles from day one.
Ms Walsh said that while many sectors hit by COVID-19 had begun to recover, tourism was different.
“It will continue to need help until domestic and international travel fully resume,” she said.
“JobKeeper has been absolutely vital for the sector … but we still haven’t seen a plan from the government for the good, secure jobs that are needed to replace JobKeeper.”
She said that in Victoria alone it was estimated that more than 300,000 jobs in tourism, transport and hospitality were at risk without JobKeeper payments.
More than 500 people in the Mildura postcode region were still on the JobKeeper scheme in December.
The number of residents on the scheme in the region dropped from 1070 in September to 542 in October after businesses and not-for-profits seeking to claim the payments were required to reassess their eligibility with reference to actual turnover.
Mildura Council has urged the Australian Government to continue working closely with regions not included in the first rollout of the scheme.
Mayor Jason Modica said the region was recognised nationally as a tourist destination and there would be major economic and social benefits for north-west Victoria if the Mildura region was included in the full recovery package.
