The federal government has come under fire for Q&A over the launch of vaccines in Australia and the newly announced plan to support tourism in regional areas.

Important points:

  • Kristina Keneally attacked the government’s vaccine rollout and her recent tourism stimulus package
  • Zed Seselja said the tourism package was “not enough”
  • Senator Seselja defended the government behind schedule on introducing vaccines in Australia

The vaccine rollout has been criticized for falling behind schedule, while the government’s plan to cut airfare to tourist areas was criticized by Labor Senator Kristina Keneally and also by tourism companies who appeared on the show as “too little, too late “.

The government’s announcement on Wednesday will cut the price of around 800,000 airline tickets in half as part of a $ 1.2 billion package to get Australians to spend on domestic holidays.

However, according to some tourism industry officials, the package is too selective in the locations where benefits are obtained and, with Australia’s international borders remaining closed, it will not be enough to help those heavily dependent on international tourism.

Two such tour operators are Alan Walsh and Andrea Cameron. Both operate stores in Cairns, Far North Queensland, and both say they have been hard hit by the impact of international and national border closings on business during the pandemic.

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“My business, like everyone else’s, has been absolutely decimated,” Ms. Cameron told Q + A.

“Normally I would do 42 tours a week. Now I’m up to six a week if I’m lucky.

“I only have one employee left. I had to let everyone else go.

“While today’s announcement was encouraging, it still won’t be enough.”

Mr Walsh said he also cut staff from 34 to 18 during the pandemic but would not let that 18 go when JobKeeper ends on March 28.

He hopes the announcement will help until Australia reopens to international tourism, but knew that this could take a long time.

“We’re probably 12, 18 months, 24 months away from getting sizeable international tourism anywhere in Australia, especially up here where tourism is really 70 percent of our market,” Walsh said.

“When people plan vacations overseas, they don’t just travel the following Monday, they put months in [planning] it.

“So we really need a strong Australian market to lag behind traveling in Australia.”

And while hopeful, Anthea Hammon of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales was less impressed with the package and asked why it only affected some areas of the nation.

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Benefits include Gold Coast, North Queensland, the Whitsundays Region, Sunshine Coast, Alice Springs, Launceston, Broome, Avalon, Merimbula and Kangaroo Island.

The Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, said that even he had to agree that the package was not enough.

“I’m not going to say it’s enough,” said the coalition representative on the panel when asked by host Hamish Macdonald.

“I’m going to say it’s a very big package, along with the support for the aerospace industry, the expansion of the loan to small and medium-sized businesses, and all the other supports that we have put into the economy.

“What we’ve been saying all the way Hamish and I think we have a good record of it, we’ll do what it takes and we’ll adjust to circumstances as they move forward.”

“Too little and it’s too late”

But that was definitely not enough for Senator Keneally as the shadow interior minister let go of the federal government.

“We welcome any support, but what was announced today is too little and it is too late,” she said.

“They have been suffering for months for tourism companies like Andrea and Alan and JobKeeper supports them.

“I hope people take the cheap flights, but the fact is they are unevenly distributed.

“It’s lucky to be in one of the places that have the cheap flights.

“What if you’re a tourism company that’s not there? What if you’re one of the Australians currently on JobKeeper?

“That’s 1 million of our Australian compatriots [who] soon to be left behind by the Morrison administration. “

Senator Seselja took an exception from Senator Keneally’s comments and replied that she supposedly follows the same line in all government policy.

“You said it was too little and too late,” he said.

“Your criticism is the same every time. It’s too little too late, no matter what we put on the table.”

Senator Seselja then said it was not the case that Queensland and Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk would be rewarded for keeping the state line closed for long periods of time during the pandemic.

“I wouldn’t accept that,” Senator Seselja said when asked if Queensland would be rewarded.

“One of the reasons Queensland is involved is because of the uniqueness of Queensland’s distribution of major population centers and these tourist destinations.”

Senator Keneally hit back again, saying if the announcement had been as wonderful as it was made, the Secretary of Commerce and Tourism would have been on the show.

“I was hoping Dan Tehan would be here tonight to speak with this announcement,” she said.

“I would have thought if he was so proud of it he would have appeared here on national television promoting it to the nation.

“And I have to wonder … didn’t he inform these tourism boards yesterday and find out how diabolical their reaction was and decide he wouldn’t be here tonight?”

No escape with slow vaccine rollout

One reason for the tourism industry was the closure of international and state borders. With the need to get travel going again, Australia’s slow start to vaccine rollout has been called into question.

Not only were 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine withheldHowever, due to a problem between Italy, the European Union and AstraZeneca, the rollout in Australia is behind schedule.

The federal government has blamed production and delivery problems for the problems and postponed dates.

Legal scholar Kim Rubinstein said leadership is needed on this issue as the introduction of the vaccine is tied to Australia’s economic health.

“We need some guidance here in terms of the consistent approach to caring for the entire community,” said Professor Rubinstein.

“In terms of actual vaccination, this, along with an expanded quarantine framework, would open up the economy even more.

“Business is linked to health problems, and ultimately we want leadership to coordinate health problems with business.”

Macdonald told Senator Seselja that Australia’s rollout plan is “slipping” but the minister defended the government’s position.

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“The first thing I would say is it’s early,” Senator Seselja said before Macdonald stepped in.

“Let’s be honest here. You are behind schedule,” said the hosts.

“You said 4 million by the end of March. Will it happen?” Mrs. Keneally asked.

“We are in the process of expanding our own capacities … and for various reasons we did not take the emergency permit route,” replied Senator Seselja.

“One of them is that we have the pandemic under better control than many other countries.

“If we introduce this national sovereignty capability, which is going to happen very soon, you will see that it increases very, very quickly.”

He added the government still plans to vaccinate most adults by October.

Ms. Keneally used the comment as an opportunity to demand that the government achieve its goals when it accused it of failing to introduce it.

“The Prime Minister said we would be at the top of the queue [for vaccines],” She said.

“We are not. Seventy-four countries are before us.

“By the end of March, four million of us would be vaccinated. By the end of March we only have 3.9 million,” she said before Macdonald tried to continue the show, but Ms. Keneally would not be denied and a request of her own.

“Today they confirmed that we will not meet the October deadline. Don’t let him get away with it.”

See the full episode of Q + A on iview.

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