Thursday, 31 August 2023

Short-stay accommodation

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:31): (452) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events and concerns the rumoured introduction of a short-term bed tax in Victoria, which might include all commercial accommodation – regulated and unregulated.

Members interjecting.

Bev McARTHUR: They hate hotels. If it were not for this government’s track record on introducing new taxes, I would find it hard to believe. But it flies in the face of common sense. Needless to say, Victorian hoteliers are rightly up in arms. To hit an industry still recovering from the destructive COVID lockdowns is baffling – the worst in the world, I might just add. The knock-on effects would be huge. The cost of accommodation is one of the first things people look at when deciding where to travel, and any reduction in the number of people staying in Victoria would have consequences for tourist attractions, restaurants and bars and indeed the whole visitor economy.

Hotel occupancy rates for Victoria in the year to June 2023 were 66.7 per cent, which is below the Australian average. We are again worst in the country – not surprising – and well below the 2019 rate of 77.3 per cent. That is not even too hot, is it? What kind of signal would this new tax send? It is not just about tourists. I have often spoken in Parliament about the world-leading events industry Victoria enjoys, not just purely the obvious sporting and music events –

Harriet Shing: They’re coming to see you, Bev.

Bev McARTHUR: they need to come here and see me – but the vast vibrant and economically significant business events sector. I do not know why they do not come here for a bit of entertainment. Anyway, any new tax could make Melbourne and indeed the whole of Victoria a much less attractive proposition. The proposed tax could add nearly a million dollars of direct cost to our pipeline of 179,000 room nights and might lead event organisers to consider alternative options.

Now, if this tax is going to solve the housing crisis, it might be worth examining, but the reality is it will do nothing of the kind. At best, it is another attempt to plug Labor’s budget black hole. This government needs to learn that there is absolutely no way that picking on every conceivable item or activity and taxing it out of existence will solve any problem. Taxing hotels is not going to solve our housing crisis, it will just reduce overseas, interstate and Victorian tourism and add costs to business travel. Minister, the action I seek is to stop the bed tax. And let us not forget about Victorians that need to stay in the city for work or for hospital events where a loved one needs to access medical care or other social services not available outside the tram tracks. Stop the bed tax.