Tourism WA- Restructure Motion Speech

TOURISM WA — RESTRUCTURE
Motion

HON LJILJANNA RAVLICH (East Metropolitan) [10.11 am]: I move without notice —
That this house calls on the Minister for Tourism to explain how the restructure of Tourism WA, the
closure of Tourism WA’s seven regional offices by the end of 2010 and the 85 job losses can be good
for the struggling WA tourism industry and the thousands of small businesses that are a part of it.

HON LYNN MacLAREN (South Metropolitan) [10.33 am]: I rise to speak in support of the motion. I, too,
would like to hear how the restructure of Tourism Western Australia will impact on our struggling tourism
industry. The Greens (WA) are concerned about the jobs that will be lost. I would like to hear that the additional
expenditure of $31 million will be spent wisely. In particular, I am looking forward to hearing about the
expanding ecotourism industry and the sustainability of our tourism industry. There are some exciting new
developments in Australia and the Greens would like to see WA position itself to take full advantage of those
developments. I note the federal government’s tourism strategy, “Climate Change Guide, Mitigation and
Adaptation Measures for Australian Tourism Operators”, which was announced last year. I would like to see
developments along those lines in the Western Australian tourism industry.

Hon Simon O’Brien: Did that get shelved with the ETS policy?

Hon LYNN MacLAREN: The minister would have to ask another party about that.
I do know that tourism in Western Australia is largely coastal. We have a lot of coastal attractions and we need
to take into account rising sea levels and climate change impacts. The Greens believe that the money should be
spent prudently and that we develop for the future, not only today. Sustainability should be the driving ethos for
all tourism development and operations, not only the nature-based ones. Nature-based tourism should be
carefully managed. The Greens are concerned that nature-based tourism may have an impact on conservation
estates. We hope that that is carefully managed.

The state tourism budget does not have the major impact on tourism; rather, it is the industrialisation of the
Kimberley, which has some of Western Australia’s prime tourism sites. The industrialisation of the Kimberley
must be carefully managed so that it does not impact negatively on the tourism industry. I recently visited
Margaret River and noted the very serious concerns about oil exploration off the coast and the potential impact
of the oil industry on the thriving Margaret River tourism industry. One of the government’s goals is improving
air access to Margaret River. I would hope this is not for a fly in, fly out oil exploration workforce, but for the
many tourists who want to visit Margaret River and spend lots of money.