Tourism update | 9 June 2023

09 Jun 2023

Minister for Trade and Tourism addresses National Press Club

At last weeks National Press Club address, Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell focused on many of the intersection points between the two portfolios.  

The recently minted UK Free Trade Agreement was a focus of the address, along with other FTAs and trade facilitation measures. From a tourism perspective, the working holiday-maker (WHM) provisions are the most progressive part of the UK agreement. WHMs from the UK will be able to stay for a full three years irrespective of where they work and for whom.

The open three year visa is what Australian Chamber – Tourism has been pursuing for all WHMs. This is, however, in contrast with the recommendations of the Migration Review that is for the retention of a one year visa.

Other areas in the minister’s address that are important to tourism were opportunities in India and Japan. He stressed that the movement of people both inbound and outbound was as important as the movement of goods. 

Minister Farrell was also forthright on the need to settle relations with China and to have a normalised relationship both around the trade in goods and services. This was balanced by his concern that diversification should occur, particularly into relatively newer markets such as Vietnam.  







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