❓ Mr. Redman questions the Minister for Tourism about a media release stating 'thousands' of businesses would receive grants from the Tourism Recovery Fund. The Minister apologises for the incorrect number, clarifying the fund was capped at 1600 grants due to limited resources.
AnsweredQoN 443Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
TOURISM RECOVERY FUND
443. Mr
D.T. REDMAN to the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the Minister for Tourism's
media release, dated 13 May, that announced $14.4 million of funding to support
the tourism sector, with $10.4 million specifically for a tourism recovery
fund, which was, and I quote, ''to assist thousands of businesses to
adapt to new tourism landscape''.
(1) How many businesses have
applied for the grant?
(2) How many businesses did the
minister expect to apply for the grant?
(3) Does the minister still agree
that thousands of businesses will get a grant?
TOURISM RECOVERY FUND
443. Mr
D.T. REDMAN to the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the Minister for Tourism's
media release, dated 13 May, that announced $14.4 million of funding to support
the tourism sector, with $10.4 million specifically for a tourism recovery
fund, which was, and I quote, ''to assist thousands of businesses to
adapt to new tourism landscape''.
(1) How many businesses have
applied for the grant?
(2) How many businesses did the
minister expect to apply for the grant?
(3) Does the minister still agree
that thousands of businesses will get a grant?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his
question. I am unaware of the detail around the thousands; obviously, that is
incorrect.
Mr D.T. Redman : It's
just in your media release.
Mr P. PAPALIA : Yes. I must
have got it wrong. I apologise for the number in that media release.
(1)–(3) As
I have stated in here and in the public domain many times, the tourism recovery
fund was available for up to 1 600 grants. That was a consequence of the amount
of money that was available. The money was
sourced from residual overseas marketing money that would otherwise have been
spent in our markets overseas to draw
people towards Western Australia from those markets. It was focused by
necessity, because we do not have the
capacity to fund grants for every small business in tourism, let alone every
small business in the state. There was never that capacity. We tried to
focus on using international marketing money, or money allocated towards that
endeavour, to support some of the businesses that provide the product that we
market in those overseas markets. That was the reasoning behind limiting the
amount; it is just a consequence of the amount of money that was available. The
state does not have bottomless pockets. We do not have the capacity to give funding
to every small business in the state to replace lost revenue. That is a really
sad thing; it is a terrible thing that no government can do that. The federal
government cannot do it and neither can we. At the time, however, we focused on
using a reasonable method to support those businesses that we anticipated at
that time would not be in business for a minimum of six months, but possibly even longer. The truth is that in the
end, because of Western Australia's success in responding to
COVID, many of those businesses were back in business within two months of
having been shut. They lost a couple of months of revenue. That is significant—I
am not trying to pretend it is not—but those businesses, particularly
in the southern part of the state, are back in business and benefitting from
what is undoubtedly going to be the biggest winter that they have experienced
in a long time. That is a good thing. We do not have unlimited capability to
replace lost revenue. I am sorry about that. I am sorry I got the media release
wrong with thousands; it should have said 1 600. I do not think the actual
number was known when that media statement was released.
question. I am unaware of the detail around the thousands; obviously, that is
incorrect.
Mr D.T. Redman : It's
just in your media release.
Mr P. PAPALIA : Yes. I must
have got it wrong. I apologise for the number in that media release.
(1)–(3) As
I have stated in here and in the public domain many times, the tourism recovery
fund was available for up to 1 600 grants. That was a consequence of the amount
of money that was available. The money was
sourced from residual overseas marketing money that would otherwise have been
spent in our markets overseas to draw
people towards Western Australia from those markets. It was focused by
necessity, because we do not have the
capacity to fund grants for every small business in tourism, let alone every
small business in the state. There was never that capacity. We tried to
focus on using international marketing money, or money allocated towards that
endeavour, to support some of the businesses that provide the product that we
market in those overseas markets. That was the reasoning behind limiting the
amount; it is just a consequence of the amount of money that was available. The
state does not have bottomless pockets. We do not have the capacity to give funding
to every small business in the state to replace lost revenue. That is a really
sad thing; it is a terrible thing that no government can do that. The federal
government cannot do it and neither can we. At the time, however, we focused on
using a reasonable method to support those businesses that we anticipated at
that time would not be in business for a minimum of six months, but possibly even longer. The truth is that in the
end, because of Western Australia's success in responding to
COVID, many of those businesses were back in business within two months of
having been shut. They lost a couple of months of revenue. That is significant—I
am not trying to pretend it is not—but those businesses, particularly
in the southern part of the state, are back in business and benefitting from
what is undoubtedly going to be the biggest winter that they have experienced
in a long time. That is a good thing. We do not have unlimited capability to
replace lost revenue. I am sorry about that. I am sorry I got the media release
wrong with thousands; it should have said 1 600. I do not think the actual
number was known when that media statement was released.
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