Question: Coal Mining in Margaret River

Submitted by Kirsty Lawson on Mon, 16/08/2010 - 12:06

Extract from Hansard
[COUNCIL - Wednesday, 11 August 2010]
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Hon Lynn MacLaren; Hon Donna Faragher

MARGARET RIVER TOURISM

504. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the minister representing the Minister for Tourism:
(1) How many people are currently employed by the tourism industry in the Margaret River region?
(2) How much tax revenue did this industry raise for the state’s Treasury in the previous financial year?
(3) How many tourists visited the region in 2009 from overseas, interstate and Western Australia?
(4) Is the industry concerned that tourism numbers will drop if the proposed coal mine goes ahead; and, if
so, why; and, if not, why not?
(5) For the sustainability of the tourism industry, will the likely impact on tourism be taken into account
during the environmental approvals process as a social or economic impact?

Hon DONNA FARAGHER replied:

I thank the member for some notice of this question.
(1) The latest Tourism Satellite Accounts for Western Australia—I presume that is an index—for the
financial year 2007–08 shows that 47 100 people are employed directly in the tourism industry across
the state. A regional breakdown of tourism employment is not available. The source for that is the
Australian Bureau of Statistics.
(2) Matters regarding state taxation revenue fall outside of the tourism portfolio.
(3) There were an estimated 60 700 overseas visitors, with a confidence interval of plus or minus
18 per cent; there were an estimated 56 000 interstate visitors, with a confidence interval of plus or
minus 49 per cent; and there were an estimated 308 000 Western Australian visitors, with a confidence
interval of plus or minus 23 per cent. The source for that is Tourism Research Australia.
(4)–(5) As Minister for Tourism, the minister has no jurisdiction over the proposed coal mine in the south west
of Western Australia. The government is fully aware of the importance of the south west from a tourism
perspective. The minister is advised that the Department of State Development is liaising with the
mining company LD Operations to ensure proper consultation with all parties. A rigorous approvals
process will also apply but has not commenced. The minister encourages every stakeholder to make
their views clear as the public consultation process is carried out.