VICTORIA's peak tourism industry body today called on the Federal Government to ensure the tax incurred by visitors leaving Australia is not increased, as the additional cost would be a disincentive for international visitors.

“Visitors to Australia pay one of the highest departure taxes in the world. Any increase will particularly negatively impact the price-sensitive leisure travel market, which has been one of the biggest growth sectors for international visitation to Victoria. We don’t want to see this promising trend reversed because of a tax hike,” said VTIC Chief Executive Dianne Smith.

Ms Smith’s comments come amid the Federal Government’s review of the $55 per person Passenger Movement Charge (PMC) incurred by travellers when leaving Australia.

“Australia is already an expensive holiday destination by international standards. The focus must be on reducing taxes to drive greater visitation and encourage guests to spend money at our cafes, restaurants and tourist attractions to support job creation,” said Ms Smith.

VTIC’s announcement echoes those made by the Australian Tourism Export Council, Tourism and Transport Forum and National Tourism Alliance in calling on the Federal Government to honour its pre-election promise to ensure the charge remains unchanged.

“At $55 the PMC is a substantial proportion of the airfare from popular destinations such as New Zealand,” said Ms Smith.

"The Federal Government has identified tourism as a key growth sector and any increase to the PMC will hamper industry growth.”

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The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) is the peak body for Victoria’s tourism and events industry, providing one united industry voice. Tourism and events are growth industries for Victoria and contribute $19.6 billion to the state economy each year and employ more than 200,000 people.

vtic.com.au

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THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said retailers support the recommendation made by the Federal Government’s Financial Systems Inquiry (FSI) Murray Report to ensure credit card payment schemes fall under the same guidance as the two major card schemes for co-branded cards.

ARA Executive Director, and chair of Australian Merchant Payments Forum (AMPF), Russell Zimmerman said the three party schemes (where banks issue co-branded cards allowing systems like Diners and AMEX to avoid rules) are significantly hitting retailers’ bottom lines and this recommendation will benefit retailers and consumers.

The ARA also supports the tiered surcharging proposal where low cost payment systems, which could include three party credit card schemes will see surcharging removed but still allows a price indicator for higher cost schemes allowing retailers and consumers choice.

"The ARA and AMPF firmly believes that there is currently an unequal playing field with some card systems able to decide their own pricing model and choose if they wish to allow surcharging by the merchant. However, both Visa and MasterCard are regulated to ensure that merchants are rightfully not charged more than a reasonable Merchant Service Fee.

"As pointed out in the report proposals for surcharging standards should make surcharging standards simpler and more accurate, while encouraging system providers that are not subject to interchange fee standards to reduce their cost.

“All participants in the payments system must be treated fairly and equally. Regulations need to be broadened to include both three-party schemes (AMEX and Diners) alongside the currently-regulated four-party schemes (Visa and MasterCard).

“In principle, retailers do not believe in surcharging and in the vast majority of cases they don’t for the regulated low-cost two major card schemes. Where they do need to surcharge is on the unregulated high-cost schemes which then gives the consumer the choice of whether they use a high-cost unregulated surcharged card or a no-cost regulated card,” Mr Zimmerman said.

The ARA is pleased to see that many of our submission recommendations have been included in the report and that both the small and large retailers who put input into this process have been listened to.
 
Key points in the ARA’s FSI submission:

• Rule changes are required in relation to co-branded or companion cards issued by financial institutions and must include both three and four party schemes.

• Merchants should have the choice of routing for all payment transactions including, but not limited to, AMEX, scheme debit and contactless transactions, allowing the lowest transaction costs possible.

• As internet transactions increase (currently at 6 percent of total retail – expected to grow to 12 percent of retail sales by 2020) and technology changes rapidly from cards to mobile devices to new POS equipment, merchants will need to invest heavily in new technology. Merchants must be consulted as changes to the payment system occur as merchants are an integral part of the payments system.

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Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) today welcomes the announcement of the new Victorian Government Ministry.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the ARA has had a long and close working relationship with the Victorian Government and welcomes the opportunity to work with the new Labor Government as closely as previous Labor Governments.

“The ARA has welcomed commitments to fix Vocational Education Training (VET) and looks forward to working alongside the new Premier Daniel Andrews to make sure Victoria’s largest private employer, the retail sector and its skills are looked after.

“The ARA has met with all key Ministers in their opposition roles and believes the new government is committed to growing the Victorian economy and retail investment.

“With most major Australian and international retailers looking to base their operations in Victoria, the government will be looked on kindly as they keep business friendly policies in place and fix those such as VET which have been causing problems for the sector.

“The ARA will be seeking to meet new Ministers over the coming months on issues ranging from planning, small business support, tax and skills to infrastructure and red tape,” Mr Zimmerman said.

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Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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PARLIAMENT’s Joint Public Accounts Committee will examine the ANAO Performance Audit Report, 2014-15, No. 9: The Design and Conduct of the Third and Fourth Funding Rounds of the Regional Development Australia Fund.

The Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF) was established in early 2011 as a nationally competitive, merit-based grants program with discrete funding rounds.  RDAF was one of the initiatives established to deliver on the then Government's September 2010 agreement with the Independent Members for Lyne and New England.

Committee Chair, Dr Andrew Southcott MP, said that the inquiry reflects the Committee’s important role of holding Commonwealth agencies to account for the efficiency and effectiveness with which they use public monies. 

“In the case of the RDAF, the ANAO concluded that there was not a clear trail through the assessment stages to demonstrate that the projects awarded funding were those that had the greatest merit in terms of the published program guidelines,” Dr Southcott said.

“The ANAO also concluded that substantial work remains to be done on designing and implementing regional grant programs in a way where funding is awarded, and can be seen to have been awarded, to those applications that demonstrate the greatest merit in terms of the program guidelines.  The ANAO also stated that there needs to be a greater adherence to the those guidelines, and decisions need to be made in accordance with the public interest and without regard to party political considerations.

“There are a number of issues which arise out of this report which need further public scrutiny.  These include the failure of the Department of Regional Australia to implement previous recommendations from the ANAO and the Ministerial decisions made in May and June 2013 which saw recommended applications in Coalition-held electorates rejected and projects in Labor-held electorates which were not recommended for funding approved.”

Interested persons and organisations are invited to make submissions to the Committee’s inquiry, addressing the terms of reference, by Friday, 13 February 2015.  

Further information about the Committee’s inquiry, including details on how to lodge a submission, are available on the Committee’s website at: www.aph.gov.au/jcpaa.

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