Australia Aviation & Tourism Leaders Panel: Helping drive international tourism

Transcript

Oriel Morrison:Welcome all. Thank you so much for being here. Andrew, let me kick things off with you. We just had some incredible numbers. I have to say, on a personal level, and I don't know how you guys feel out there, we all know that travel has been decimated by the pandemic. We all knew that, but seeing that on screen and seeing those charts and that drop-off and then flatline still just brings it all back, doesn't it? 2020. How's it feeling in the ACT now?

Andrew Barr:That we're on our pathway back. It's been a very challenging couple of years and sort of in between COVID waves there were signs of recovery and then you'd get another wave of COVID and everything would be locked back down again. But I think we are now at a point Uh, where pandemic COVID is now endemic, uh, and we are managing it without the need for the very heavy-handed, uh, interventions. We've got a vaccinated population now. See a couple of international markets not quite there yet, as, as we've, uh, as we've just seen, but, uh, I'm as optimistic as I have been in the last 2 and a half years that, you know, we are now on a steady path of recovery.

Oriel Morrison:What, what is the portion of nervousness?

Andrew Barr:Well, it's, it's more related to some of the supply side issues that I think we've been experiencing, and I reflect upon some of the decisions that were taken by the National Cabinet, uh, and by this, the former Australian government, that have had some pretty significant impacts, uh, particularly on the Australian labour market.

Samantha Palmer:Yeah.

Andrew Barr:Uh, the, the, I think the defining statistic is that we lost around 200,000 20-somethings from our workforce.

Samantha Palmer:Yes.

Andrew Barr:They were largely international students and temporary visa holders who were told by the Australian government to— they couldn't look after themselves, that they had to go back to where they came from. State and territory governments, we did our very best to try and, you know, we were providing meal vouchers for students to try and keep people in Australia, but getting those those students back, those, uh, temporary visa holders, and indeed more permanent migration, was an outcome of the National Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra. Um, so I think again, reason to be confident that we're going to get back to where we were. Just how quickly it happens is the—

Samantha Palmer:Is the question.

Oriel Morrison:Yeah. So Nick, how is it looking in South Australia? Are you— do you have the same level of optimism? Because that's what I'm taking away from Andrew.

Nick Jones:Yeah, look, it is, it is positive.

Samantha Palmer:We—

Nick Jones:Minister mentioned, uh, the $8 billion target that we hit in December, uh, '19, um, and then it fell straight off a cliff when COVID hit.

Andrew Barr:Yeah.

Nick Jones:Um, the concern was we weren't going to have a tourism industry when we came out of it.

Samantha Palmer:Yeah.

Nick Jones:Um, you know, at the time it was just, it was devastating. We, we had some research done around May 2020, that consumers were happy in their own vehicle up to 3 hours from their place of residence. So that, that we knew aviation, aviation was in trouble.

Andrew Barr:Mm.

Nick Jones:Um, but probably more importantly at the time, there were 18,000 businesses here in South Australia in the tourism sector, and we weren't sure whether we were going to come out, um, of, of COVID with an industry. So, so government had to get involved there in in, in switching focus to more of a domestic market. And pleasingly, South Australians got out and they saw their state. People who— even people who traditionally may spend their holidays in Europe, they got out and they— and they— I think they liked what they saw.

Andrew Barr:Mm.

Nick Jones:And it bought us time. We then put some stimulus in place to incentivise people to, to continue to do that. We also had a number of hotels come online at exactly that COVID time, which was, was concerning. But we played a role, we wanted to provide appropriate stimulus to get people moving, a bit of an incentive. But we're pleased to say it's looking very, very positive. I take your remarks around staffing, and that's, that's probably one of the biggest challenges.

Oriel Morrison:But you did work pretty hard at the start to put certain elements in place so that when this— with the view that when this situation ended, you would be okay.

Nick Jones:Yeah, I think the other thing, and to the, to the government's credit, they put in place a $20 million infrastructure fund, a tourism development fund. So to, to build back stronger, you know, the immediate focus was to create immediate construction jobs and keep things moving. But there's been 114 projects, and this was new accommodation, refurbished accommodation. So we, we sit here now and it's, it, it's interesting to look at things and we sit here with confidence and going, oh no, this is, this is all looking really good. But it was pretty scary. It was pretty scary going back a couple of years ago. Is the planet going to keep spinning?

Andrew Barr:Yes.

Nick Jones:And we, you know, and we're in a good place. We're excited. It's pleasing to see the demand that the airline's coming back. And I think what's also pleasing is the consumer, while their interest rates are going up, power costs, food, all of these pressures, it seems travel is also a not negotiable, which is really pleasing. They must have these holidays. So I, I think there's a lot of upside, a lot of upside.

Oriel Morrison:I must definitely have my holidays.

Nick Jones:I hope it's to South Australia.

Oriel Morrison:Of course, to the wineries. Definitely wouldn't miss it for the world. Just before we go to Samantha, I omitted to say at the start of our conversation that we will be opening for questions just for the last 10 minutes or so of our conversation today. So to have access to this kind of talent, I know we all have some incredible people in the room, but if you do want to ask a question, we'll throw out some roving microphones. We've got some wonderful girls coming to do that at the end of our panels. So just bear that in mind if you've got any questions. Samantha, I've been doing a little bit of research into what you and your team have been doing. Tell us about Thrive 2030, because it seems to me that this is going to make such a huge amount of difference to Australia and our visitor economy.

Samantha Palmer:So thank you for the question. We have been so grateful for the enthusiasm that the industry, the states and territories have put into the last year of taking what was done and ready to launch in March 2020, which was Tourism 2030, slightly challenging timing. And so we needed to spend a lot more time thinking about how to reshape that long-term policy strategy for the whole country in terms of building and reimagining a visitor economy into the future. So that's what Thrive stands for, the Reimagined Visitor Economy.

Nick Jones:Mm.

Samantha Palmer:Through to 2030. And this strategy is industry-led, government-enabled. So Martin Ferguson is the panel chair for the reimagining work, a lot of time talking to industry, basically to anybody who was available, because Martin didn't have a lot to do during— he was locked down, he was available, we were really lucky. Talked to everyone about what they thought, and in the Thrive document we have 3 phases. We have a recovery phase to 2024, which has 66 actions to be delivered by industry, states and territories, and 21 Commonwealth colleagues that I work with. to help make sure that we can get on that path to recovery. But we have 2 further phases in this long-term strategy that we are yet to develop, and that's where we are looking for industry, for everyone in the room, to help us and our colleagues in the states and territories to really think about the actions that will help us consolidate post-recovery and accelerate into the future. And so thinking about the changes in the world, so So international travel has really returned to pre-pandemic levels in region, but a large proportion of our visitation comes from outside of our region, which means that if we're going to diversify into the future, we really need to think about our product and our services being fit for the Southeast Asian region. And that's very different in many ways to a lot of the product we've been offering very, very successfully to our visitors from the UK, from Europe, and from the USA. But our number 2 visiting market right now is India, and it's grown dramatically, and it's going to keep growing because we have such a strong student population from India, we have such a strong migrant population from India, and it's got such a strong growing middle class. That is really, in, in Southeast Asia, is where our future is. And so thinking about what we have to do as a whole consolidated group of collaborating colleagues to make the most of that is where our future and our success and prosperity is going to be.

Oriel Morrison:Where are we at the moment, Samantha? So, pre-COVID, the visitor economy in Australia, correct me if I'm wrong, was the 4th largest. Where are we right now?

Samantha Palmer:So, we're the 4th largest export.

Nick Jones:Yes.

Samantha Palmer:After iron ore, coal, and gas.

Oriel Morrison:Yes.

Samantha Palmer:And the visitor economy incorporates both travel for leisure and business and visiting friends and relatives, but also education. And our international education market is also The 4th largest. And even when you put them together with all of the internet, all of the money that gets made from international students, and all that they spend, and all the tourism, we're still only the 4th largest together. So that shows you the difference between that business, that area of the economy, and, and the things that we dig out of the ground, basically.

Oriel Morrison:Mm.

Samantha Palmer:So where are we now? We're, we're really back at 20 to 30%. We've got a long way to go, and, and our workforce is constraining our ability to deliver. Working holidaymakers, we had 140,000 of them in Australia before the pandemic. We've only got 55,000 of them now. That's really hurting us. 70,000 visas have been issued, but it takes about 100 days for a working holidaymaker between when they get their visa and when they come. It's just how they plan and think about as they move around the world and experience their life and employment.

Oriel Morrison:So, Andrew, let's talk about what the government can do and is doing to bring people back into the country. And there, I know there are some very specific steps that you have to make because there are specific areas, as Adrian pointed out again, you know, supply and demand. You've got staff shortages when it comes to airlines coming online. You've got a lot of different areas that the government has to focus on. So what is your most important, your number one step that you're working on at the moment?

Andrew Barr:It's an excellent question. In short, we need more of everything, and across state and territory governments and in our engagement with the Commonwealth, we are looking at really a really significant list of priorities. I guess number one out of the Jobs and Skills Summit was an increase in the skilled migration program that has components that relate to state and territory government sponsorship. Now, some of the stats around where this industry sits relative to the nation, I guess, though, if you're from a mining state, then tourism and education tourism is less important to you. But you are ACT, South Australia, Victoria, I think even New South Wales, Tasmania, it's— that's a bigger part of your economy. So it really matters for a lot of the subnational governments, and we'll be putting a lot of effort Going with the increase in the total skilled migration program has been the extension of the number of years and working rights for international students. That's going to, we understand from, from the response already, drive a very significant recovery in the international student market that has both a direct tourism benefit but also augments the workforce for a period of time. And, Andrew, But making up that 200,000 lost 20-somethings is not easy, and it won't just happen. It's going to take at the very least 12 to 18 months, we expect. There's a discussion to be had around the composition of the increased migration program, and tourism ministers are gathering here in Adelaide early next month. as part of our discussion and our input into this broader jobs and skills agenda. What I will say, and I'm a veteran of this, 16 years as a tourism minister, 8 years as a first minister, more than a decade as a treasurer, the working relationship between the Commonwealth Government now and the states and territories is the best that I have seen in my career. I'm optimistic about what we can achieve together over the next few years. The moment is now though, and so my, my call to industry is we need to hear the ideas. You've got a few weeks ahead of the tourism ministers' meeting. Be in touch with your relevant state or territory tourism minister, and your skills minister, and your treasurer. They are the 3 most important people to get the outcomes that this industry needs.

Oriel Morrison:You know, I might be showing my, my age here, but still, when I think about tourism in Australia and marketing campaigns, I think of Lara Bingle.

Andrew Barr:Well, that's where I first met Scott Morrison in this very convention centre 16 years ago when he was head of Tourism Australia.

Oriel Morrison:A lot has changed since then. There you go, see, it sparks conversation, doesn't it? Nick, you didn't look hugely impressed at that particular point.

Nick Jones:I don't know what to say there. Should we move along?

Oriel Morrison:Yes, let's move along.

Andrew Barr:Campaign's best forgotten.

Oriel Morrison:Well, what happens now? So what, what are you guys going to do? I mean, what are you focused on? You've talked about, you know, some of the steps that you and of course the South Australian government put in place to ensure that your, your industry, which as many other places in Australia had very, very difficult times during COVID So how are you planning to bring tourists back into this part of the world, you know, be it students or tourists from America or Europe or Japan?

Nick Jones:Well, you know, as those, as those markets have been opening up and working with the airlines, you know, we're as the Minister mentioned, we've, we've worked very closely with our friends at Adelaide Airport and the airline industry to grow that capacity back as, as demand comes. We've also, you know, as a, as a tourism commission, looked at those markets around the world and are they still appropriate on the other side of COVID and, and, and recalibrate our marketing focus. And, you know, you mentioned India, that's, that's an opportunity. Um, North America, you know, we remained active in those international markets during COVID We kept the lights on, as one of our marketing people said, keep it, keep it moving so we can, can move back into things quickly. But also keeping, you know, we want to try and keep that domestic visitor as well. I think they, as I said, they like what they saw in their own state. I think they were surprised. These were people who traditionally would go overseas, you know, Bali, Europe, wherever. They, they were forced to have a good hard look at their own state, and they liked it. And, and we'd like to find that, uh, that mix of still trying to keep some of that expenditure in the state, but also grow that international markets as things open up. And obviously there's been, you know, there's geopolitical challenges. There's— the world has changed quite a bit in, in, in where we can focus. And, um, so we're going through that process. But we, as an industry, and I, I think the, the great thing about Australia and South Australia, that the product is here, the raw product's here. It's, uh, you know, the wide open space, the, the clean, the food, the quality, all of those things.

Oriel Morrison:Mm-hmm.

Nick Jones:We're known that we've handled COVID particularly well. We're known we have a very good health system here. So the brand of South Australia and Australia is very strong, but it's doing all of those things to make it easy, affordable to come here and experience that. So, you know, there's a lot of upside, but the staffing is an issue. And I see Peter Williams here from one of our— Phil Hoffman Travel, and You know, speaking to, to, to Phil Hoffman, um, one of the great travel agents here in South Australia, you know, during COVID too many staff, not enough customers. Now, too many customers, not enough staff. So there's, it's just every sector, every supply chain, and, and tourism is not shielded from that.

Oriel Morrison:So, so what, Samantha, what can Austrade do to support that question? You know, when we're talking specifically about students, students, but also about staff in general, you know, bringing those migrant workers back into the country.

Samantha Palmer:So one of the things we do at Austrade, so if we think about Tourism Australia's very important work, and, and, you know, here I'd like to pay homage to the work that Tourism Australia did keeping Australia in the mindset of people planning their future trips. We know overseas trips take a long time, and people think about them often years in advance, and TA have done an amazing job keeping Australia in that mindset for travellers. We're up to 97% of Google searches searching for holidays in Australia, which is really almost back to where it was before. And their Go Big Go Australia campaign, which they've been running, which is really about reminding people that yes, it's a long way to come, but if you're going to go on a holiday after being locked down, you should really, you know, go big and see as much as you can of this amazing country. So, and there's a new campaign out soon, which, which will be launched, and that will be exciting for us as well, and hopefully continue to drive demand as, as they do really important work in that. In terms of workforce, we've been working, we've got a Thrive Skills and Workforce Working Group, which, which in fact the ACT, Jonathan Kobus is on the working group, and we've been working on a strategy with our colleagues in terms of how do we pick off various components that are leading to the problems that we have in Australia, which were here before COVID exacerbated by COVID, but exactly the same as in many parts of the world. So Professor Tom Baum from Strathclyde University in the UK, he writes there are 4 million fewer workers in tourism than there were before around the world.

Oriel Morrison:Wow.

Samantha Palmer:And this is not an Australian-only problem. We did, we did make some decisions that made it harder for us, But it is a big problem. And so that workforce strategy that we'll work on with our colleagues in industry and experts is designed to address this as for what it is, which is a wicked problem. So you do certain things in different places and it has other consequences. So we all have a role to play though. Austrade will be working across governments and working with our colleagues to make sure that our regulations and our support programs are the best they can to get the right outcomes, that our training is lined up across jurisdictions to make it easy for people to be mobile. There's a lot we can do there, we recognise that. But there are things that industry need to do too. So a lot of the research is showing that young people are not choosing working in this industry because it's not a great lifestyle for them. The work is precarious, the pay is not great, they're not feeling engaged and involved as employees in terms of having a purpose and a career, which is something that young people people really want to see. So there's as much an opportunity for us in industry to have an impact on that attractiveness, and, and keeping people and retaining people and helping them grow, as much as, as there is for government. So it's an us problem, which we're really keen for you to, to consider in your own businesses.

Oriel Morrison:You know, I was talking to a university professor just yesterday who was telling me they'd completed some research on one of the specific impacts of the pandemic, COVID-19, which was to bring up this new view of sustainability into our lives. And this, the trends that we saw, less driving, changes in the way that we eat, all of those sort of, the way we use waste and recycle waste, we're spending more time at home, we're much more focused on that, and we're really hoping that, that those trends won't actually change and go back to how they were before. This is so relevant to what we're here to talk about today. These trends are here to stay. Now, Andrew, from your perspective, the ACT has some of the most ambitious climate goals in Australia. This relates to all areas, you know, not just tourism, not just travel. Tell me, what are you— what is the government doing now to support those goals when it, when it comes to the industry that we're here to talk about today?

Andrew Barr:Look, the, the nation has obviously changed course since May. We've had 10 years of climate wars. The Parliament has now passed the new government's climate action agenda, and we are on our way to making up some of the lost ground. There's still a way to go. State and territory governments have been 10 years ahead of the Australian government, and many industries have been even ahead of state and territory governments. territory governments. I'd make the observation across, across the aviation and tourism sector that there's been a focus on this, but clearly there's more that the industry is going to need to do. Government will act as a partner and an enabler. More of that, I think, is going to happen at a federal level because this industry obviously crosses state and territory borders. and international borders. And clearly, the— there's an economic incentive for the industry to, to transition to more fuel-efficient aircraft and then ultimately to different forms of propulsion of aircraft over time. This is a key issue though, for particularly for people, uh, Generation X and younger, which is now 2/3 of the Australian population, and over the next 10 years will be even more of the, I guess, the, you know, those who vote and those who will determine public policy, who will run the businesses, who will run the companies, and who will influence the direction of policy. So I think it's only going one way. We need to be more sustainable. But this is an amazing economic opportunity, particularly for parts of Australia that haven't been generators of fossil fuel energy, and that's many parts of Australia, but it is a massive transition for the Australian economy over time. But again, this industry is going to increase its share of economic output. That's what's going to happen. It's going to be increasingly important in each state and territory economy, and therefore the national economy.

Samantha Palmer:Mm.

Andrew Barr:Another key moment in our history, so let's grasp it. And it's fantastic to see some of the initiatives that are emerging, you know, business by business, but also across the sector. Again, I'm enthused by what I see. We probably just need to start running a bit faster from here though.

Oriel Morrison:And as you pointed out, research has proven that there is a cost benefit. You will see that coming through on the bottom line.

Andrew Barr:Yeah, it will be there, but there is some upfront investment. Yes, there's no doubting that. I think everyone acknowledges that, but the savings are there for the environment and for business bottom lines over the medium term.

Oriel Morrison:And Nick, this is something that's specifically important to South Australia as well. I mean, you're pushing a nature-based funding grant for nature-based tourism around Australia. So tell us a little bit about that and what sort of response you're getting.

Nick Jones:Well, very strong on that. That, that was to, uh, you know, activate some of our natural experiences. But I'd take the Chief Minister's comments about South Australia is really well placed in renewables. You know, we've got the world's largest battery based here.

Oriel Morrison:We—

Nick Jones:there are days that the entire state have— has run on renewable energy, which is fantastic to see. And I think sustainability, and the other word that we're hearing so much about is wellness, is coming through from the consumer. And particularly I think that, that educated high net worth traveller, they want to know what's going into my body, you know, and where's it made, is it made, you know, appropriately? by people well paid, it's not in some sort of sweatshop, or— and then also, you know, what impact am I having, is my visit having on a particular destination? I want to leave no, no bad footprint. So this is another opportunity for Australia to target those people. There are other parts of the world that focus on, you know, the massive numbers and not not so focused on, on the environment, sustainability, and wellness. But Australia should capture this, and I think, take the Chief Minister's comments, I think it's moving in the right direction. It's an opportunity that will require some work, but there's a lot to like.

Oriel Morrison:There is a huge amount to like and very little to dislike on that particular topic. Now, Samantha, I know you know a lot about this topic as well. In fact, you've seen firsthand coming through in a lot of the data that you've collected, that people's interests are changing, then they want to connect more, not just with environment, but also with Indigenous culture, Indigenous community as well. What are you seeing?

Samantha Palmer:So some really interesting research around the country, some in particular, a survey done for WA Tourism around young people wanting to come to the state. 70% of young people wanted an Indigenous, authentic Indigenous experience, but only 19% were able to book one at a time that worked for them whilst they were travelling. So massive opportunities for us to capitalise on the interest of having Australia's oldest, the world's oldest continuous living culture, and the unique benefits that that brings, not only for our experiences and what we can share, but also for the employment and the benefit to the community of better engagement. Engaging and providing prosperity and an opportunity for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people to continue their culture through that work in tourism. It's very important. So that's really one key area which is part of our strategy, which we're seeking to grow, but also around accessibility. So the accessibility market, people who need accessible travel and support, it's a very big market, it's over $3 billion. It's a highly untapped market, tends to be thought of as a rights market rather than thinking about it in human rights terms, rather than thinking about it in growth and opportunity terms. When people with disability travel, they tend to travel with multiple, with carers and other family members, and it's really a shame that Australia hasn't done a lot more as some other countries have done to date. It's a really So we've been working with the Department of Social Services in the Commonwealth to have an employment pilot to help small businesses, medium-sized businesses in the visitor economy to employ people with disability, because they're there, they're waiting, they also, when they get jobs, they travel and spend. And so those 2 areas are of particular interest. As Nick said, the wellbeing and the safety of our staff is really important. And I think that's a really good point. And the green market is huge. It's one of the reasons why internationals worry about travelling out of region because of the carbon impact. And really, some— for some of us, there are, beyond savings, there's great opportunities to attract better and bigger markets if we think about how to— how we do our business in this area.

Oriel Morrison:I am now going to open to the floor. Do we have anyone off the bat who who's keen to ask a question to our fabulous panel today. Do we— we've got a roving microphone I can see, but we've, we've got a question over here, please, if we could.

Nick Jones:Good morning, thank you, and thank you for inviting us to Adelaide. I have a question for the panel in respects to the 200,000 people we're hoping to get in to improve our lack of resources. Forgive me, I'm British. I'm going to go back to the £10 pom. Why would I come to Australia if it's going to cost me a lot to live, if it's going to cost me a lot to travel here, or I won't be able even to get some rental accommodation? What encouragement? And I'm not talking about subsidies. or something are you going to give to the aviation industry and to the individuals to want them to come and live here or work here?

Andrew Barr:Okay, well, certainly the question of housing does go hand in hand with the increased migration program, and that was a key point of discussion at the Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra about a week ago. It is on the agenda for the National Cabinet later this month. In short, we need to build more houses in Australia. But they will necessarily need to be in all different parts of the country, so one of the, the questions really is what are the opportunities for regional Australia, and for cities, with apologies to people from Sydney and Melbourne, for cities that are outside our 2 biggest cities to accommodate some of that additional population growth. I know speaking on behalf of the ACT and Canberra, the national capital, we are keen for, for more people and we recognise the opportunities that an increased migration program will hold. In relation to the second part of the question around working with, with the aviation industry, well, I think most state and territory governments have partnerships with a number of different airlines, Australian-based and international. We're certainly pursuing more. We want greater connectivity in, into our cities. Again, from our perspective, we're particularly focused on the Asia-Pacific region, and one of the reasons I'm here today is, is to, to engage more on those opportunities. What we're then looking for, I think, is partnership with the Australian Government through Tourism Australia and Austrade, and those conversations are going to be had, and I think they're very, you know, so far very fruitful conversations. There's a shared desire to pull the resources of government together and to partner with industry to make this happen, and I would observe that for the first time in a while we're not having an argument about what we need to do. We really just now need to move into the phase of doing it, and that is a breakthrough because we haven't— we haven't— we've been arguing over priorities. Now I think the priorities are set. It's time to get on with it.

Oriel Morrison:Samantha, did you want to add to that?

Samantha Palmer:I think the Chief Minister's summed it up very well, and there's quite a lot to do in a challenging fiscal environment as well. And so The question is often not about having a lack of ideas, but it's which ones we can guarantee are going to have the best bang for buck and address the short-term problems the fastest, as well as having an eye to the longer term, which always, always seems to be hard at a practical policy level to keep that eye on the long term. So those two things, and I agree with the Chief Minister, that my colleagues across state and territories, my colleagues, I've got 21 agencies I work with across the Commonwealth, we are working together. Whereas from time to time you have a siloed and a protective kind of regime, there's a real openness to collaborate, and that's one of our themes. And, you know, collaboration, they say, is the unnatural act amongst unconsenting adults. It's a hard thing to do, right? It's not easy. Cooperation and coordination are easy, collaboration is really hard. So I think we're getting there.

Oriel Morrison:Nick, did you want to add to that?

Nick Jones:I'd reiterate what the Chief Minister summed it up well. It's— these things aren't going to get solved overnight, but it's pleasing to see everyone singing from the same hymnbook about what the issues are. One thing that was pleasing, I think, was the possibly activation stimulating that retiree market who are quite often travelling around Australia, have their own accommodation to a certain extent, getting them involved in tourism. But housing, I mean, there are so many issues, but it's been pleasing through the Jobs Summit to see these issues being put on the agenda. But no, no one can make it happen overnight. I don't know what more to say on that.

Oriel Morrison:No, fair point, fair point. Do we have any other questions? coming out from the floor. We have a question just over here, please. And I think— did I see another one over there? We've got another one over there, so let's take this one first.

Andrew Barr:This is probably a follow-on from Virginia's question over there. Andrew from Hawaiian Airlines. I did hear you mention that working holiday visas are taking about 100 days to process, and I wonder if that could be something that could cause I guess, further problems. Is that normal to process a working holiday visa that amount of time? Because I can imagine young people have got the choice of the whole world to go to, and if they're planning for summer this year, we could be in a bit of a problem.

Samantha Palmer:So working holiday maker visas are being approved by Home Affairs today, on the day that they're applied for. So they're basically doing a risk management approach, And they're being approved within 24 hours or the same day, on average, that they're being applied for. The 100 days is the time between when a working holidaymaker visa is granted and when the holidaymaker arrives in Australia. So, so working holidaymakers often have many countries they want to visit in a big world trip in their youth. They apply for a range of visas, they get them at various times, But it takes about 100 days for them to actually arrive in our country from when they get the visa granted, and sometimes that's about seasons. Having a job, they might be working in the European summer; they want to come to us in in our summer, so they apply in advance. They can make their plans, but it takes them a while to get here. So it's not about the processing, but the government approved 36 million extra dollars for Home Affairs to process and hold. 500 more people around the world to process the backlog of visas and to get going. And we had a report yesterday, state and territory tourism officials met yesterday, and we had a report from Home Affairs to say that that work is going very, very quickly and they're getting through that backlog. So I appreciate that we have had visa processing challenges in the past, definitely, and in some countries in the Southeast Asian region because of the security considerations that have to be taken into account when approving visas. And also in some parts of the market, there are agents that aren't necessarily processing visas for the right reasons, that Home Affairs need to actually, you know, do this job properly so we don't get overstayers and people who, who aren't, who aren't the best people to have in our country.

Oriel Morrison:Okay, thank you. All right, we had a question just over here.

Andrew Barr:Good morning, I'm Bonsai Lam from Japan Travel. Just firstly, thank you for the comments about accessibility and doing something more for people with disabilities. I'm just keen to hear about any examples of places or projects that have improved travel products for people with a disability? I noticed in last year with Destination Q, the Queensland Tourism Minister announced a lot of extra spend for disability travel going towards the Paralympics and the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.

Samantha Palmer:Fantastic. So we've been doing a project in the state with the States and Territories, Austrade and the States and Territories, all states and territories put funding in for us to send out consultants to a wide range of businesses across the tourism, across the visitor economy, if you like, from zoos to accommodation providers to tour operators and bus operators, etc., all the different aspects. And over the past 6 months, that project has been building capability, training people around how to make their businesses more accessible, and then those businesses have agreed to become champions for accessibility. So that project has had its final report to the working group of all the state and territory officials, and we're about to publish some of that information, which will show you who all the champions are and what they've done and what they've learned about how easy it is actually to make their business more accessible. It's not, not very difficult at all in, in many ways, in order to open themselves up to that market and to broaden their capacity for earning. So that's one project, and the state and territory colleagues who've been working with us at Austrade are very excited about continuing that work. Tourism Australia is doing a lot of work, for instance, with their Content Experience Initiative, which is making sure they've got great content, video, photographs of all the different providers in Australia across the different parts of the visitor economy. They've put very special effort in for us to make sure that they show pictures of people of all different abilities and diversity, not just white, middle-aged, or young tourists who are blonde, etc. And so, you know, I'm really happy to see that the videos of the Australian Botanic Gardens and the ACT have a number of people in with different types of disability or ability. So how we present ourselves is really important to to being able to attract and to reflect a diverse experience in our country. We're going on to talk— accessibility is an area where we would like to do a lot more, and we're continuing to work with our colleagues on what actually is the best priority for doing that. And then also in the National Disability Strategy, we were very happy to be able to encourage our colleagues in this— in the other Commonwealth parts of the agency to make sure that the needs of the visitor economy with respect to customers, but also staff and businesses in the area of accessibility and delivering for people with needs for accessibility is properly reflected within that strategy. And that's part of what we're kind of trying to do across the visitor economy is make sure that the needs of our industries and sectors are reflected in other parts of government decision-making, rather than it all just always sitting in a silo. So there'll be a lot more to come, and we're very excited about the big events that are coming as well, and making sure that they're accessible to everyone too.

Oriel Morrison:Andrew, did you want to—

Andrew Barr:Oh no, I think that's a very comprehensive answer, but there's projects happening in every state and territory. It is a priority across the nation.

Oriel Morrison:And you have touched on this, or—

Nick Jones:I was going to add the grant funding that South Australia Mm-hmm. The South Australian Government's provided to the South Australian Tourism Commission. So accessibility and sustainability are 2 key pillars, criteria of any assessment that we do there. And in addition, one of our latest marketing campaigns features a disabled person in the advertisement. So it's certainly front and centre. It's a big market, I think it's been mentioned. So it's good common sense.

Oriel Morrison:Do we have any other questions? We've probably got time for one more, if we have any other questions out there today. No one? No one. Okay, so Andrew, I've got a quick question for you before we, before we head off stage, we have the time. What sort of questions are you getting from business across The ACT, you know, when they're coming to you and saying we need more support here or here, you know, whether it's from the airlines or other businesses indeed?

Andrew Barr:It's skills, skills, skills, skills, skills, skills.

Oriel Morrison:Hence the summit.

Andrew Barr:Yes, and then once you get past the first sort of 5 questions about skills, there's another 5 on skills with a little bit of focus on population and then what we're going to do beyond this immediate skills crisis around driving demand in the, in the medium term. And I think, you know, obviously whilst we are all very focused on some of the short-term challenges, the opportunity here is also to think about what's coming, what's coming next. Government isn't always fantastic at thinking about, you know, 5 and 10-year cycles. It's the nature of politics in our country that many people in roles like mine only get 3 or 4 years. it doesn't lend itself to long-term thinking.

Nick Jones:Mm.

Andrew Barr:I think there's a great opportunity now though, at the beginning of a, well, what I hope will be at least 2 terms of the new federal government, that will come as not a surprise to anyone, that they might be able to think a little bit longer term. So that's one of the discussions that we hope to be having at tourism ministers here in Adelaide early next month. These are, you know, once-a-decade opportunities in Australian public policy, so we should grab them. And my call again to everyone in the room is that now is the moment. This is the time to get in front of the various decision makers, because whether it's the next 5-year skills agreement, the Tourism 2030 plan, some of the other economic development issues that are being issued, decisions that will be made in the next 12 months are going to set the course for the rest of this decade. So it's a really, really important moment, and I'm delighted to be able to be here today and to engage with this audience again.

Oriel Morrison:Thank you. Absolutely. And I'd like to ask you to put your hands together, big round of applause for our wonderful panel today who's given us so much information. Andrew, Samantha, Nick, thank you so much. Pleasure.

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