The Federal Government has announced that an independent inquiry will investigate Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic “to help better prepare and protect our country for the future”. But the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has called for a widening of the inquiry’s scope to include lockdowns and border closures.
With the ban on international movement impacting the travel industry more than any other sector, the Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) has thrown its support behind AHRC’s calls for greater scrutiny of the handling of the pandemic.
“The terms of the inquiry are a good starting point but we ask that the Government expand the terms of reference to consider the biggest source of impact on our sector – border closures and lockdowns,” ATIA CEO Dean Long said.
“Australia deserves a unified national approach and the review, in looking at what worked and what didn’t, needs to look at those decisions that had the most significant impact on people’s lives which was the restriction of movement. That needs to be front and centre of any review.”
Mishandled grants?
Additionally, ATIA is demanding a review of the “substantial issues in Austrade’s handling of the distribution of Consumer Travel Support Grant funds of $270 million” during the pandemic.
“Speak to any travel agent or business still operating today and they have a war story about the multiple complex problems in Austrade’s management of the Consumer Travel Support Grant funds from design to implementation,” Long said, not pulling any punches.
“The process for so many of our members was frustrating and the approach not fit-for-the purpose.
“Austrade has done a review but hasn’t released it. That needs to be considered by this review as there’s absolutely no doubt that there are lessons to be learnt from the processes and approach adopted by the government of the day and the department at the time.”
Last week, ATIA took centre stage before a Senate Committee Inquiry into Bilateral Air Service Agreements to argue for urgent reforms in a sector that affects every traveller.
