ANNABEL HEPWORTH, NATIONAL BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT From: The Australian June 12, 2012 12:00AM
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STRICKEN tourism operators have attacked Labor for skewing taxpayer bailouts in favour of carmakers, with the head of a peak tourism group saying he turned down Julia Gillard's economic forum because he did not want to "attend and sing Kumbaya".
Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee said yesterday he declined an invitation to the forum in Brisbane tomorrow out of disenchantment because tourism would be hit with three extra taxes in the budget, but the automotive industry was in line for $6 billion worth of assistance.
Mr Lee's comments came as Finance Minister Penny Wong rebuffed ACTU demands to extend the co-investment model that rescued Holden to other sectors.
"Pretty much I was told by the government if I go, it wasn't the time to vent my spleen," Mr Lee said.
"So I said, well, no go. We are quite frustrated the Prime Minister would be going to the mecca of tourism, Queensland, and isn't going to hear first-hand because people are that disenchanted about the difference in how the car industry is treated compared with the tourism industry.
"The rhetoric has been there, manufacturing and tourism get mentioned, except we are poles apart in how we get treated. One gets funding and assistance and bending over backwards to assist the major car companies, and we cop it with new taxes and charges.
"If anyone thinks you will attend and sing Kumbaya, they are sadly mistaken."
Underscoring concerns the forum be backed up by action, Rio Tinto's managing director for Australia, David Peever, said it would be a good platform to discuss key issues. "Talk is good, but positive outcomes are better. Ultimately it is the actions that follow the discussions that will determine its success," he said.
The ACTU has vowed to use the forum to push for an extension to other struggling sectors of the co-investment model under which Holden received $275 million in taxpayer aid in return for investing $1bn in the local car industry.
But Senator Wong has stared down the push, renewing frustrations in the tourism sector. "It's not viable for taxpayers to, for example, effectively insure industries for exchange rate risk. So there's a judgment about what is the best use of taxpayers' money, how do make sure we invest in the right things and recognise this is about making industries more productive and more competitive in the decades ahead, not just protecting them if their business models need to change," she said.
Mr Lee said that while there was some co-investment in tourism marketing, the industry had been hit in the budget with a 17 per cent hike in the passenger movement charge to $55, a new airport police tax and the carbon tax.
Manufacturing Australia executive chairman Dick Warburton said he had some empathy for the ACTU push.
"One has to query why it all went into one sector, the automotive sector," Mr Warburton said.
"I was reluctantly in favour of keeping that automotive business going. I say reluctantly because I believe it is very important for the national economy. But it does seem illogical it all goes to aid one major manufacturing industry."
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said there would always be a legitimate role to assist industry undergoing cyclical and structural changes in the economy.
But he added: "Unions should not be using a call for greater government assistance to mask union-induced high costs that have been imposed on business such as through excessive pay increases and the productivity-reducing workplace initiatives they have supported."
Mr Willox said governments had a role to assist business.
"Perhaps the first way they could do it is to reduce general costs, and the compliance burden that's imposed on industry should be where government looks.
"Perhaps the first place government could look would be to lower the proposed carbon price from July 1."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tourism-chief-snubs-pm-forum-cl...
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