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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 440 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 18 June 2020 by Mrs L.M. Harvey

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

CORONAVIRUS — TOURISM — INTERSTATE TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

440. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:

I refer to the very troubling story of Wendy from Geraldton Air Charter, who was interviewed on Ollie Peterson's show yesterday. What does the Premier say to Wendy, one of the many faces of Western Australian small businesses, who has been absolutely decimated by his economic mismanagement and his uncertainty over when border restrictions will be lifted?

Mr M. McGOWAN replied:

I was in Geraldton maybe 10 days or so ago and I am pretty sure that I met Wendy, who runs a charter service out to the Abrolhos Islands. I sat down and had a long talk to her at a function that I held for local businesses in Geraldton. I explained that what we have had to do to protect the health and economy of Western Australia has been difficult. The overwhelming reception of the businesses at that function, including, I think, Wendy, was that they were very understanding of what has occurred.

The main loss of tourists for those sorts of businesses are Chinese tourists, and that is what she said to me. Chinese tourists like to come here and experience Geraldton and, for instance, enjoy some seafood or catch a crayfish. Many like to go to the Abrolhos Islands. The Chinese market has been a huge loss to the business. I do not have any line of sight on when our international borders are going to open, but I think it will be some time. I expressed my deepest regret and sympathy to those businesses for what has had to occur to protect the health and wellbeing of Western Australians, but they were very understanding of what has gone on.

Obviously, the overwhelming customer base of many of those businesses, particularly charter operators and the like that do flyovers of Pink Lake near Kalbarri or of the Abrolhos, is international, and that is not something that I can fix. If the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting that I can fix that, I can tell her that that is a matter for the commonwealth government. I counsel against bringing down the international border too soon, because if we reintroduce COVID back into Western Australia and we have to shut down the entire economy, that will be devastating for the people of our state.