Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) welcomes some strong commitments to grow the Victorian visitor economy in today’s state budget.

A highlight is the provision of $190 - $210 million for the Stage 2 development of MCEC which VTIC has long supported.

“VTIC is a long-standing advocate for the MCEC expansion,” said VTIC Chief Executive Dianne Smith.

“This announcement paves the way for the expansion which will allow Melbourne to continue hosting large scale international conventions and events that contribute significantly to Victoria’s economy and help drive visitation to regional destinations.

“We look forward to full details of the expansion’s design and timeframe for completion.”

Chair of the Victoria Events Industry Council Peter Jones was also pleased with today’s announcement.

“Together with the announcement of additional funding for major events, the MCEC expansion will further cement Victoria’s reputation as the events capital of Australia. It is important we continue to support the high-yield business events sector with essential infrastructure investment,” said Mr Jones.

The budget also includes a wide range of projects for regional Victoria, delivered through the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund, many of which will support visitation to regional destinations.

These include:

- Grampians Peak Trail ($19 million)
- Geelong Performing Arts Centre  ($30 million)
- Sovereign Hill by Night program ($8 million)
- Eureka Stadium (and other Ballarat sporting infrastructure) ($31.5 million)
- Victorian Wine Tourism Strategy ($1 million)
 
Business throughout Victoria will welcome the $20 million in funding to support regional arts and culture, including a regional touring strategy for major exhibitions, performances and programs.

In addition, the Victorian visitor economy as a whole will benefit from the substantial funding allocated to improving public transport infrastructure and services, including significant road and rail investment and the trial of all-night public transport on weekends, commencing 1 January 2016.

VTIC notes that there is an absence of detail in the budget regarding tourism marketing and development.

 “We look forward to working closely with the Minister and Treasurer to ensure that these government-funded areas are appropriately resourced to take advantage of the growth opportunities available to our state,” said Ms Smith.

“Overall this budget delivers many positives for the tourism and events industry and we look forward to the outcomes of the Visitor Economy Review to further boost Victoria's competitiveness.”

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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RETURNING income taxing powers to the states needs serious consideration for Australia to stand any chance of repairing its broken federal/state taxing and spending structures, the Taxpayers Research Foundation* (TRF) said today.

Failure to take tough decisions, including a fair dinkum look at returning states' income taxing powers, risked Australia’s economic and social future, the TRF warned.

Launching its latest Tax Policy Journal: A New Federalism. A New Tax System, TRF spokesperson Terry Ryan said Australia desperately needed tax reform to provide long-term fiscal sustainability for all the governments in our Federation.

“Policy makers at federal and state levels must recognise the need to implement long-term reforms to our federal and state spending and taxation structures,” Ryan said.

“We need vigorous debate and commitment to reform at a critical time of our economic and political cycle. We simply can’t leave this to chance given the current political uncertainty in Canberra,” he said.

While the Federal Government has commissioned the White Papers “Tax Reform” and “Reform of the Federation” to be delivered by the end of this year, with a view to presenting reform proposals, the 2015 Tax Policy Journal focuses on better informing the public and policy makers about our Federation’s fiscal problems – particularly the mismatch between revenue and expenditure between the different levels of government.

Ryan said Tax Policy Journal papers highlighted:

• states revenue sources are insufficient to fund their expenditures and the Commonwealth’s tax bases deliver more revenue than needed to meet its spending commitments. And a half of that amount is tied to federal spending priorities
• vertical fiscal imbalance is common under federal systems, but is high in Australia by international standards. Nearly a quarter of federal tax revenues are passed back to the states, in the latest year $54.9 billion in untied grants, mainly from the GST and $46.3 billion in specific purpose payments
• even with the untied grants the allocation of these funds to the different governments is determined by Federal government equalisation priorities and not by the revenues collected per state, eg Western Australia only receives about a third of its total revenues from federal funds whereas South Australia receives nearly half of its revenues from the Federal government
• while there are many benefits for Australia in a federal system, reform of income taxes, GST and state taxes can reduce the imbalances in our federal system and increase efficiency for all levels of government.

Ryan said there was a strong argument to give real power back to the states.

“This includes allowing them to again levy income tax to reduce the imbalances and this is discussed at some length in the 2015 Journal.

“Also discussed are the specific roles governments perform and the governance needed to ensure genuine accountability and responsibility from all elected representatives.”

Ryan said past failed attempts to make meaningful changes were also discussed, highlighting that reform from the two White Papers “would be just the beginning”.

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PRODUCTIVITY measurement, definition of key terms, and data sources are some of the themes highlighted in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Statistics Review Discussion Paper, released today.

The ICT Statistics Review is a joint project between the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Department of Communications, Bureau of Communications Research (BCR).

The Review is designed to assess the priority information areas for ICT statistics, as well as ways to improve the quality of digital economy data available for Australia’s decision-makers.

Public submissions were sought early this year and the paper includes a summary of topics emerging from these submissions and outlines the next steps as part of the ICT Statistics Review.

Diane Braskic from the ABS said the submissions showed strong support for a review of ICT statistics and provided a good base from which the Review can progress.

“The public submission process saw 28 submissions received addressing various aspects of the ICT Review’s terms of reference,” said Ms Braskic.

“The paper provides a summary of the information needs that have been identified and gives further opportunity to provide input to prioritise these for the final report.

“Consultations will continue and we strongly encourage further input to identify and prioritise information requirements relevant to stakeholders.”

Head of the BCR, Dr Paul Paterson echoed the sentiments of Ms Braskic.

“We’re delighted with the response." said Dr Paterson. "This input provides a sound basis to build a robust platform for data collection and analysis in a fast-moving and dynamic sector of the Australian economy.”

Feedback on the information requirements can be provided to the Review Secretariat atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 5.00pm AEST, 22 May, 2015.

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THE most significant business technology event in the Asia Pacific region is set to kick off from tomorrow Tuesday 5 May and run until Thursday 7 May at Sydney Olympic Park. This year’s event, now in its 14th year, will feature federal and state ministers along with numerous other government speakers.

CeBIT’s official partner is the NSW Government. CeBIT’s supporting partner is the City of Sydney.

The opening ministerial address at 9:00 – 9:45am on Tuesday 5 May will feature:

• The Honourable Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia via video link
• The Honourable Dominic Perrottet MP, NSW Minister for Finance, Services and Property
• Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney

Other attendees for the opening address include Commissioner Andrew P Scipione APM, Commissioner of NSW Police Force and Craig Laundy MP, Federal Member for Reid.

Other highlights:

The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull MP, Minister for Communications is confirmed to open the CeBIT Australia eGovernment conference, 9:15 - 9:40am on Wednesday 6 May.

The Honourable Victor Dominello MP, NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation is confirmed as a keynote speaker at the CeBIT Australia eGovernment conference, 9:40 - 10:00am on Wednesday 6 May and will then do a tour of the show floor.

The Honourable Anthony Roberts MP, NSW Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy will tour the exhibition at 5:30pm on Wednesday prior to attending the CeBIT.AU Business Awards gala dinner, 6:30pm on Wednesday 6 May.

Other attendees at the gala dinner include Craig Kelly MP, Federal Member for Hughes who will also do a tour of the show floor at 5:15pm and Sameer Arora, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASCOM).

The Honourable Stuart Ayres MP, NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events will open the CeBIT Australia StartUp conference, 9:30am – 9:50am on Thursday 7 May.

Other NSW Government speakers include Glenn King, CEO, Service NSW (eGovernment conference, 6 May); William Murphy, Deputy Secretary, Service Innovation & Strategy, Department of Finance and Services (eGovernment conference, 6 May); Dr Pedro Harris, Executive Director, ICT Strategic Delivery, Department of Finance and Services (Cloud conference, 6 May).

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