JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

SENATOR NITA GREEN
SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
CAIRNS
MONDAY, 8 MARCH 2021

SUBJECTS: JobKeeper in Far North Queensland; International Women’s Day; Josh Frydenberg showing up in Cairns empty-handed; Warren Entsch; Support for tourism; Local disappointment with the Treasurer’s visit.

SENATOR NITA GREEN, SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND: Well, good morning everyone. My name is Nita Green, I'm a Labor Senator for Queensland and I live right here in beautiful Cairns. I’m really lucky today to have Jim Chalmers back here in Cairns with me to talk to local tourism operators about the very real crisis that we are about to face in Cairns if we don't get the right support from the federal government.

First of all, can I say happy International Women's Day, to all the women out there, particularly the women who have worked so hard to get us through COVID-19. As a woman, a young woman, in politics, it has been a disheartening few weeks to talk about some very important issues, but I've had the chance to spend some time at local community events over the past couple of days, and it's been really nice to acknowledge the local community champions that just got out there and did their bit during COVID. So, thank you to those women.

Today, the Treasurer came here empty-handed. He came to Cairns without a plan to help Far North Queensland tourism businesses. For months now, we have been asking the federal government to come up with a plan and support for when JobKeeper ends. But now we know that JobKeeper is due to end in about 20 days time, but the federal government still doesn't have a plan. Why is it so important to Far North Queensland tourism businesses and the economy? Well, we know that the uncertainty is really having an impact. It has already meant that businesses have cut jobs. People have lost their jobs here in Cairns, because of the uncertainty that's been created by the federal government. We know that these businesses have been doing it tough, and they're prepared to get in, and work hard, and get to the end of this crisis, but they can't do it without a little bit of help, and a little bit of understanding, from the federal government about the impact of JobKeeper being cut. We know that we are going to lose skills as well as jobs when JobKeeper hits. So, it's really, I join in the frustrations, and the anger, of many people in the community today, who expected Josh Frydenberg to turn up to Cairns and to deliver a package. And he wasn't able to do that. It’s insulting to the community here, that he even bothered to come without a package to announce.

Now, the local Member, Warren Entsch, has been out there telling people that he's going to seek re-election at the next election, because he's got the influence and the credibility to be the Member for Leichhardt. Well, today we learned that he has no influence. That he has no credibility. And he is unable to deliver for the local community. Josh Frydenberg has failed Cairns today. Warren Entsch has failed Cairns today, as well. Thank you and I'll hand over to Jim now to say a few words.

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks very much, everybody. It's a real pleasure to be back in Cairns, for the fifth time since the last federal election, and especially on International Women's Day to be here with Nita Green, who is an absolute champion for Australian women and also for Tropical Far North Queensland. And also Sonjha, who's here from Entrada, one of the affected local small businesses, here in Far North Queensland.

There are 8,096, workers and 2,631 small businesses in this local economy which face devastation because of Josh Frydenberg cuts to JobKeeper. It’s taken Josh Frydenberg forever to get here and when he finally arrived, he came empty handed. When the local workers and small businesses of this region were asking for a helping hand, Josh Frydenberg has given them a slap in the face. It's not too much to ask for all of those businesses and workers impacted by the closure of the international border to get a helping hand from Josh Frydenberg and the Morison Government but instead Josh Frydenberg came here with no plans for Cairns.

Now, we don't want to see this local economy hollowed out. We don't want to lose the jobs, the experience, the skills, the workers from this local economy, which is the likely consequence if the federal government doesn't come here with a plan for Cairns and the surrounding areas, to make sure that this local economy can prosper. If we want the Australian economy to recover strongly from the worst recession of the century, then the local economies or regional Queensland, particularly those impacted by the closure of international borders, need to be a much bigger part of the story.

We call on Josh Frydenberg to responsibly extend JobKeeper to the businesses who are still struggling here in Cairns and the surrounding areas. Nobody is saying that JobKeeper needs to go on forever. What we are saying is that the JobKeeper program needs to be tailored to what's actually going on, on the ground in local communities and local economies like this one.

Under Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison it’s more likely that money will go to puff up executive bonuses in Sydney and Melbourne than to the struggling workers and small businesses of Cairns and the surrounding areas after the end of this month. So, we're calling on Josh Frydenberg to do the right thing. He's taken forever to get here and he's still come empty handed. The workers and small businesses who are relying on JobKeeper to keep this town afloat deserve and need better from the Commonwealth Treasurer, then coming here empty handed as he has today. Over to you.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

CHALMERS: Well, it's been clear for months now that this region is struggling because of the closure of the international border and we've said for some time, that there is no substitute for an extension to JobKeeper. If there are other ideas that the government wants to put forward to support struggling businesses and workers here in Cairns and the surrounding areas, then we’ll be constructive about it, we'll be supportive about it. Any support for the local economy is welcome, but there's no substitute for JobKeeper.

If you think about Sonjha’s business, for example, 88% of her workers are on JobKeeper. She's already lost two-thirds of her workforce in the last 12 months. Unfortunately, she expects another 10% of her workforce to go when JobKeeper is cut by Josh Frydenberg at the end of the month. We're talking about big numbers here. And so we need a lot of support here. It needs to be temporary, and targeted, and tailored to what's actually going on here. We're losing something like $5 million a day from the local economy because we're not getting those 3,5000 international visitors that we'd normally be getting at this time of year. So we need a Morison Government which actually understands what's going on here and is prepared to extend JobKeeper. If there are other ways to support the local economy, we’ll be supportive of that. But there's no substitute for doing the right thing by workers and small businesses when it comes to JobKeeper payments.

JOURNALIST: The Treasurer said today that they are looking at aviation. I mean, what other industries do we also need to be investing in, to try and bring Cairns back off the ground?

CHALMERS: Isn’t that the problem? I mean, he's come here, he’s given a big speech about how good he is. He's talked about what the problem might be and what they might be contemplating doing. The workers and small businesses in this town are struggling right now. It's been obvious for months that there's a problem here because of the lack of international visitors and yet he's still here pontificating when people need help. He's come here empty handed, when the town is on life support. And the only plan that he's announced so far is to pull the plug on that life support at the end of this month. Local businesses and local workers need and deserve better than a Treasurer and a government at the federal level, which doesn't have a clue what's actually going on here.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible) We didn’t get any more details about what the government’s going to do (inaudible) Is that a cop out?

CHALMERS: Absolutely, it's a cop out. I mean he's known – or he should have known – for some months, that while some of the Australian economy is recovering, including some of the tourism sector which can lean on more domestic tourists to get by, places like Cairns rely really heavily on international tourism. You think about Sonjha’s business, something like 70% of her business is international visitors. Others we've spoken to today on the marina, 90% of their business is international. It doesn't take a genius to understand that when the international borders are closed, the international flights aren't coming, that places like Cairns need a bit more help, for a little bit longer. It's not too much to ask. The people of this town are asking for a helping hand but instead Josh Frydenberg has given them a slap in the face.

SONJHA FORBES, ENTRADA: My name is Sonjha Forbes. I'm the General Manager of Entrada Travel Group. We actually own six businesses in Cairns, so the majority of it is marine tourism. So, a lot of scuba diving. So, I guess, our story is quite dire. We have, as Jim had said earlier, 88% of our staff on JobKeeper. I've lost about 67% of my staff. That's because we just have no tourists to operate. We have no tourists to take to the Great Barrier Reef. And I think the effect of that right now is everybody has been waiting for something to happen, for some good news, and there is no good news. And that's affecting everybody deep inside. Myself, I feel really sad that a lot of these people are going to be without jobs.

JOURNALIST: So, what are you hearing from your staff?

FORBES: I think, with my staff, they're unsure about their future. And if they're unsure about their future, then they're going to go off somewhere else and look for a job somewhere else. And that's a great loss to us, this region, and our ability to be able to get up and get the businesses going again when the time comes. So, there's a lot of skilled people that we need. And they're just not going to be there.

JOURNALIST: Do you know how many of them are leaving Cairns?

FORBES: Well, I do know that about 50% of the guys that have already left have left Cairns. Yeah. So, it's a good 50% that have gone.

JOURNALIST: What kind of toll does it take on you, just looking ahead at the rest of 2021, if you don’t see any more support being extended beyond March?

FORBES: Well, for us, that just means more hibernation. We’ve already hibernated two sections of our business. So, I guess it just means a little bit more of that. We are in for the long haul, so we just need to continue to scale back as we need to, to make sure that we're here when the time comes to get going again.

JOURNALIST: How does it feel to not have any certainty from the Treasurer’s visit today?

FORBES: Oh, it feels terrible. Really, I'm not sure what other words to use. It's disheartening. I have a really tangled knot in the pit of my stomach. It’s sad. It's sad for the staff. It's sad for the people of Cairns, and the businesses of Cairns.

GREEN: Thank you, everybody.

ENDS