Passenger Movement, our beloved Great Barrier Reef, and fundamentals were high up the talking order when it came to quizzing the Tourism Minister at Travel DAZE last week.

Travel Weekly’s Managing Editor Richie Kenzie sat down with Senator Richard Colbeck in front of a 200+ crowd.

“I think the good thing about the tourism industry is that it is the one industry where there is a significant opportunity for interaction with the reef without having a major impact on it and generating a real value perception of the value of the reef as a whole,” Senator Colbeck told Travel DAZE attendees.

“Obviously the recent events around coral bleaching are a significant issue for us all, a major concern for us all. I was very encouraged to hear the reports that came from GBRMPA (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) over the weekend about the actual condition of the reef – how much of it is actually now in recovery, which is good news.

“Obviously there is still some concern about those northern areas that were, perhaps, most impacted upon and, although the waters that they are in are well to the north and probably provide a better opportunity for recovery because there is so much less impact from mainland Australia, further up north towards the Torres Strait. I’m actually going up there later this week to have a look for myself.

“A number of my colleagues have expressed concern about the state of the reef and particularly some of the messaging that has been coming out almost talking the reef and it’s circumstance down and I am quite concerned that there has been some exaggeration of the damage levels on the reef and so that is why I was pleased to see the report that came out from GBRMPA over the weekend.

“We have made some quite significant investments in research; we have more monitoring sites on the reef than we have ever had before so that we can keep a close eye on it. It is one of the world’s iconic locations and it’s a major tourism attraction for this country – we understand that very well. So it’s important that we do what we can to ensure its longevity and its recovery as quickly as possible.

In terms of innovating within our industry, Colbeck said it’s important to “understand what the visitor is looking for.

“There was some chatter in Tassie recently about tourists facing closed doors. People writing to me and asking me what I’m going to do about it.

“Well there is not much I can do about that particular circumstance but I can sit down and talk with them to see what they can do about it because other than me legislating for businesses to stay open for set times, which I am sure no one here will be excited about, it’s about knowing what your customer wants and meeting that market and developing the market.

“It’s about people to people interaction. It does a whole range of other things; the higher the level of visitation between two countries the better we understand each other, a whole range of things go into it so it is an attitudinal thing and it’s very much the public face of the country, the public face of Australia.”

Asked by Travel Weekly managing editor Richie Kenzie what’s top priority, should Colbeck and co make it back into Parliament after the July 2 election, he said it was still very much about “fundamentals”.

“I want to continue to work with my colleagues and I have to say they have been quite cooperative around making sure that we remain competitive in the visa space and if you look at what we are doing there is a fair bit of work happening there,” he said.

“The technology that sits behind electronic visas, offering it in languages and balancing that with security is expensive and there is some investment to be made in that and I know that is occurring. But getting those things right and making sure other inhibitors in the decision making process are as seamless as possible.

“The work that we have done with facilitation through airports that we announced in the budget for example, takes away another wrinkle, if you like, in the system and it makes it easier for people, who are prepared to pay for the service, to come through our airports.

“Those sorts of things we will continue to look at because if we are going to meet our expectations with respect of projections of people we want to come here, it’s a service industry a service economy, we want to make sure that we meet the fundamentals of that.

Another vexing issue is the Passenger Movement Charge, which Senator Colbeck said was something his government wanted to “hold where it is”.

“I don’t want to see it rise and I’m sure there are people here who would like to see it fall but I’d be completely off message if I didn’t say we are in a tight Budgetary situation, which we obviously are,” he said.

“So holding it where it is at this point in time is a sensible place for us to be with that and we can look at things once the budget continues to improve. There is a range of costs in the sector that I would be keen to have a look at over time because they are also indicators but maintaining the charge at this current level is the current situation.”