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ATEC slams new government agenda

The Federal Government's new Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda is seen to evade Australia’s second largest service sector expert earner.

The Federal Government’s new Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda is seen to evade Australia’s second largest service sector expert earner.

The Australian Government released the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda on 14 October, in a bid to strengthen Australia’s competitiveness. The Agenda has a focus on providing economic incentives with an aim to help businesses grow, includes immediate reforms to boost competitiveness and a range of proposals for public consultation.

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However, according to the The Australian Export Tourism Council (ATEC), the agenda ignores the success of Australia’s tourism industry and fails to build on the significant and growing economic contribution of export tourism.

“It is extraordinary that, in outlining its plan to ‘seize new opportunities’, the Abbott government has completely overlooked the A$30 billion and growing export tourism industry, one of our best bets for future growth,” said Peter Shelley, managing director ATEC.

Shelley said ATEC had long sought industry support from a research and development style agency that could help guide tourism businesses to implement improved methods and build greater capacity to deliver high quality tourism services of the future.
Shelley claims this request has been completely overlooked by the government’s agenda.

“This kind of supply-side support is a crucial plank in ensuring Australia is a competitive destination able to catch hold of the growing demand for international travel,” he said.

“Tourism businesses don’t have the resources to apply innovation in the way that information and communication technology, manufacturing and mining industries do, and we believe there is much to be gained in supporting the industry to innovate in a similar way.”

What do you think about the new government agenda? Have your say!