Message from the Chair

I trust you have all enjoyed your festive season and are ready for the adventures of 2024!

Accommodation Australia had a big finish to 2023 with our last board meeting of the year in Melbourne and was joined by members of the AA Victorian State Advisory Committee. Our plan for 2024 is to continue holding our meetings across several states and territories and provide opportunities for addressing local issues with the advisory committees and key stakeholders.

At our next meeting in February, we will also be taking the opportunity to review our strategic position in the industry to ensure we prioritise and remain relevant to our members with our advocacy and policy position.

Key priorities and areas of concern for the National Board remain:

• Short Term Rental Accommodation
• Airline Capacity & Pricing
• SA Payroll Tax
• Closing the Loopholes Bill

With the above in mind, I am pleased to report that meetings are already scheduled across the respective ministries for the first sitting weeks of parliament. As Chair, I am always impressed with the work that the Ferguson’s, Jenny and Michael do around the halls of parliament. As a board, we look forward to returning to Canberra for our August Board meeting and supporting the team’s efforts in the world of advocacy and policy.

Finally, I need to let you know about some people changes on the board.

Due to recent changes and restructuring within Accor, we will be losing the valuable contributions provided by Sarah Derry (CEO Accor Pacific) to the AA National Board. Sarah has resigned and will be stepping down from the board in January. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Sarah over the last few years and would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate Adrian Williams on his new role with Accor Pacific as the Pacific Chief Operating Officer. Adrian will be joining the AA National Board following Sarah’s resignation.

On a personal note, I have been offered a job opportunity with IHG in Atlanta, Georgia which will require my family to relocate to the U.S.A. in late February. As such, I will be stepping down as Chair of the National Accommodation Division (Accommodation Australia), and subsequently my roles on the AHA National Executive and AHA National Board, which means that the Board meeting on 20 February will be my last.

I am incredibly proud of all we have achieved together over the last 2 years, bringing together two distinctly different, but purposely aligned organisations to create an incredibly strong voice for our industry. My time with the Accommodation Association and Accommodation Australia has given me the opportunity to give back to an industry that I love and has, in turn, returned more than I could have hoped.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank David Canny, Stephen Ferguson, Michael Johnson, the Accommodation Australia board and all members for their wonderful support and friendship over the past few years. I look forward to watching Accommodation Australia continue to progress in the years to come.

Yours in hotels!

Leanne Harwood

Chair

Message from the CEO's Desk

It is hard to believe we are now well and truly into 2024 with 2023 a distant memory. We certainly had a successful start for Accommodation Australia and once again, a big thank you to our members and corporate partners for your support throughout the process. Whilst many hotels around the country had a fantastic 2023 there were certainly some not so lucky as the weather turned on our industry in Queensland with Cyclone Jasper in Cairns and the floods of the Gold Coast and surrounding areas. We trust the downturns are quickly remedied and the return to business as usual is in your sights.

You will also have seen in the media that we were successful in executing the Hospitality, Tourism and Travel Employment and Skill Platform Grant with Austrade and the Federal Government. This has been in the pipeline for some time however the detail always takes longer than anticipated to get finalised. We now have the custodianship of a $10M grant over the next two and a half years to development and implement this Jobs, Employers, Training and Careers platform that will be an absolute game changer for the promotion and perception of our industry. We have appointed our Project Manager, James Lawton who is busy working with consultants and the Advisory Committee to ensure we are making a difference and in market as soon as possible for the good of industry. More to come on this exciting project during the year.

We also saw the first of the Migration Strategy papers released by government late last year – we have worked closely with Minister Giles and his advisors along with Minister O’Neil to ensure we are still able to achieve the required skills and workforce needed for our industry to operate successfully. Although student numbers are starting to slow, there are now more international students than pre-pandemic, and Working Holiday Makers number more than 160,000. This is extremely encouraging for 2024 and we will continue to consult closely with government as these strategies are fine tuned.

Our engagement with Government at both a State and Federal level has never been stronger. Jenny Lambert, Martin

Ferguson AM, Stephen Ferguson and I have attended numerous meetings last year with Ministers and their advisors to ensure the voice of our members is heard. Jenny has produced multiple submissions and our calendar for 2024 is very

quickly filling up, particularly over sitting weeks in Canberra with the many issues currently under review. These include the Industrial Relations Loophole Bill which our team has collaboratively been addressing – a big thank you to our Legal & IR teams across the country that have been instrumental in putting forward strong arguments to bring about workable changes.

I trust you have had a chance to liaise with your state or territory accommodation managers over the last 6 months since amalgamation – if not please don’t hesitate to reach out to them. They have been working hard with their state advisory committees, member events and industry insight to ensure your businesses are supported through both the good and not so good times. A big thank you to our CEOs and Accommodation Managers around the country that are representing your best interest at a state level – this has shown to be one of the strongest support mechanisms for our industry to date.

We trust you enjoy this first Key News Update of 2024. We ask that you support our corporate partners and suppliers listed as they invest in the growth and development of products and technology for our industry. I would also like to publicly thank our Chair, Leanne Harwood, and wish her every success in her new endeavours in the US (Atlanta), and Sarah Derry for her support and contributions to the National Board. I would also like to thank our Deputy Chair, Sean Hunt and Treasurer, Bruce Copland and the Accommodation Australia National Board for their efforts during 2023 and look forward to their direction and support in 2024.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to myself or my team if we can be of assistance. I trust you all have a busy and successful summer season.

Kind Regards

Michael Johnson

Chief Executive Officer

By Jenny Lambert, National Policy & Research Advisor

It has been another busy three months in the policy and advocacy space, with a number of issues that have been around for a while continuing to attract our attention as well as some new ones.

The Fair Work "Closing Loopholes" Bill reached what you may call an interim conclusion in December. AHA/AA advocacy which focused on the complex definition of casuals had great success in securing changes to the Bill. Also, in the last parliamentary sitting for the year, the Federal Government reached a deal with Senators Pocock and Lambie to split the Bill and passed a number of changes including those to labour hire, criminalisation of underpayment and union delegate rights. The remaining parts of the legislation including the all important casual provisions will be revisited later this year following the conclusion of the Senate inquiry process in early February.

In relation to Short Term Rental Accommodation, we have seen another Government act with Western Australia announcing in November new regulations which included a state-wide registration process, a 90-day cap beyond which a DA is needed for the Perth region as well as a financial incentive of $10,000 for owners to revert to long-term rental. AA has also had input into the Victorian Treasury on the definition of those properties that will be subject to the 7.5% levy to ensure that all commercial accommodation is excluded.

December also saw the release of the Federal Government's migration strategy. The Temp Skills Shortage Visa (TSS - previously 457) is to be replaced in late 2024 with a three-tiered Skills in Demand (SID) Visa:

• Top Tier - for salaried migrants (not trades) paid above $135,000 - not subject to an occupation list and assessment of shortage will not be relevant
• 2nd Tier $70,000(TSMIT) - $135,000 - subject to a single Core Skills Occupation List produced by Jobs & Skills Australia assessing not only shortages but also whether the occupation is "suitable" for migration.
• 3rd Tier - Essential skills under the TSMIT - at the moment these are being dealt with by labour agreements and further consultations are planned.

The emphasis in the new Skills in Demand Visa is on mobility which has the downside risk of sponsoring employers of migrants being discouraged from sponsoring. We will need to consult closely with government on this aspect, as the strategy document refers to the new SID Visa as effectively a multiple employer sponsor visa.

No immediate changes were made to the Working Holiday Maker Visa but a review of the visa including the 88-day rural requirement is to occur, so lots more work to be done in this area in 2024.

A new issues that demanded considerable attention was the Australia Bureau of Statistics review of the Australian and New Zealand Stand Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) which underpins important decisions such as on migration and training subsidies. Reflecting input from members from two workshops held last month and via email, the joint submission by AHA/AA recommended significant change with the most important change to recognise the job roles in the industry at the skilled and supervisory level. Apart from cooks, there were very few jobs outlined in the current ANZSCO for our industry between managers and chefs (ANZSCO Skill Level 2) and front-line staff such as waiters and bar attendants (Skill Level 4). This did not reflect experienced job roles such as cocktail bar attendants, concierge, fine dining waiters and other more skilled job roles, not did it pick up any of the supervisory roles. Consultations with the ABS will continue this year.

In our last submission for 2023, Accommodation Australia drew to the attention of the Panel inquiring into the Federal Governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic a number of lessons learnt during that very challenging time. Given the significant role played by our sector in providing quarantine services, we highlighted a number of shortcomings with the arrangements put in place and ways that things can be improved for future reference. We challenged the Panel to evaluate the merits of some of the more severe border and lockdown restrictions and also commented on matters such as JobKeeper and the importance of ongoing support to industries such as ours that are impacted by border closures long after other industries have restarted.

This coming year will see many of these policy issues continuing to require our advocacy as well as other such as airline capacity and pricing, tourism marketing funding and access to training and apprenticeship support. We have finalised our Pre-Budget Submission this month which canvasses all of these important policy matters and plan multiple trips to Canberra in the coming months to push for our sector's concerns to be included in the top of Government's priority lists.

Regards

Jenny Lambert

2023 Oct13 W Hotel Great Addition to Sydney Hotel Skyline

2023 Dec11 Federal Migration Strategy a "Positive Step Forward"

2023 Dec14 $10m Boost for Visitor Economy Digital Super Hub

2023 Dec20 Michael Johnson reflects on the first six months of Accommodation Australia

2024 Jan08 Hotels Welcome Recovery Package for Far North Queensland

2024 Jan17 Concert Gap Hits Right Note for Accommodation Hotels

2024 Jan18 Accommodation Australia Honours Out-going Chair

Upcoming Events

Accommodation Australia is hosting numerous events across the country. Please visit the links below for updated list of events in each state/territory.

Other events include Hotel Market Updates across Australia. Please keep an eye out for the calendar of events from your state /territory representatives.

Shop Small is a national movement, founded by American Express, to ignite passion for small businesses, highlight their valuable contribution to communities and the economy and to encourage shoppers to support them.

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Shop Small is just one of many ways American Express support small business all year round.

Hostplus is an award-winning super fund!

We’re thrilled to share that Hostplus has been named Money magazine’s Best Super Fund for 2024¹.

What does that mean for our members? Hostplus is a top-performing super fund² that puts members first. Judged on strong performance, competitive fees, and an ongoing focus on members’ needs, we’re proud to be a super fund that delivers on all three fronts. 

The benefits of being with us

From our low admin fee³ and strong long-term returns² to our wide range of investment choices, we’re striving to help our members have a future they’ve worked hard for.

Consistently strong returns

We measure our success by what we deliver for our members. As well as winning Money magazine’s Best Super Fund for 2024¹, SuperRatings has ranked Hostplus’ default Balanced (MySuper) option as the number one option over rolling 10 and 20-year periods.²

A low admin fee³ 

One of the lowest admin fees out of any MySuper product[1] means more of members’ money is invested in their future. Every dollar our members save goes a long way to helping them achieve a future full of positivity. That’s why we aim to keep our fees and costs as low as possible.

A wide range of investment choices

While our Balanced option is designed for members who prefer to leave investment decisions to us, we offer a range of investment options – including pre-mixed and single sector options – for members who want more control over their super. Members can mix and match options to suit their investment risk profiles and financial objectives.

That’s a plus.  

Find out more about our winning team

¹Best Super Fund 2024 is awarded by Money magazine. Visit moneymag.com.au for awards criteria. Awards and ratings are only one factor to consider when choosing a super fund. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. General advice only. Consider the relevant Hostplus PDS and TMD at hostplus.com.au and your objectives, financial situation and needs, which have not been accounted for. Issued by Host-Plus Pty Limited ABN 79 008 634 704, AFSL 244392 as trustee for the Hostplus Superannuation Fund, ABN 68 657 495 890.

²SuperRatings Fund Crediting Rate Survey – SR50 Balanced (60-76) Index for October 2023.

³ Source: SuperRatings fee data for public offer MySuper products extracted from SMART 2.0 platform on 9 August 2023. Comparison is based on the total administration fees and costs assuming a $50k account balance. Other fees and costs apply. Refer to the PDS for more information.

Last year the rates we secured for businesses were on average 7% lower than the sky-rocketing market rate which went up by an average of 26%. (Read our 2022 vs 2023 price comparison report here: The average small business energy bill: 2022 vs 2023 | Zembl)

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