INDUSTRY UPDATE
Ciobo lends an ear at
BECA pollie talkfest
Leaders of the business events industry gathered in Canberra to lead discussions with politicians as part of
Business Events Council of Australia’s ‘Business Events Meets Parliament’ program.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
Steven Ciobo was guest of honour at a
recent Business Events Council of Australia’s
(BECA) board dinner in Canberra, which
kicked off a series of official discussions
and presentations by the business events
industry to bring greater awareness of the
value of the industry to the nation’s economy
and the challenges it faces in a competitive
global environment. The program included the BECA board
meeting at Parliament House with Shadow
Minister for Tourism Anthony Albanese
and Shadow Minister for Trade and
Investment Jason Clare to highlight policy
priorities of the industry. The board then
met with the Minister for Justice Michael
Keenan to discuss how they can work with
government to protect Australia’s greatest
asset of safety and security.
“High-level discussions were held with the
Minister about the government’s fiscal and
political environment, and international
matters that impact on doing business in
Australia and our country’s competitiveness,”
said BECA chairman Matthew Hingerty. This was followed by a bipartisan Friends
of Tourism Luncheon, where key industry
leaders pitched the value of business events
and outlined the highly competitive nature
of the industry to more than 20 politicians
including Trent Zimmerman and Terri Butler.
“Mr Ciobo has a high-level understanding
of the importance of business events
and their capacity to leverage Australia’s
aggressive free trade agenda. He has long
been a champion of the services economy
in general.” Business events leaders also took part
in a roundtable with senior officials from
key federal government departments and
agencies including Tourism Australia,
Austrade, Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade, Department of Immigration and
26 Convention & Incentive Marketing, Issue 4, 2017 www.cimmagazine.com
Border Protection, Department of Prime
Minister and Cabinet and the Department
of Industry, Innovation and Science. One
outcome was an agreement by industry to
more effectively share information that can
assist the departments in leveraging future
business events.
“Our message to all Parliamentarians is
clear: the business events sector has been
one of the quiet achievers of the Australian
economy, generating around $30 billion in
economic activity annually and creating
192,000 jobs,” said Hingerty.
“All in all it was a very successful inaugural
event with good attendance from both
parties and genuine engagement and
sharing of information between Government
departments and industry. We look forward
to hosting this event annually with the aim
of continually raising awareness of the quiet-
achiever of the Australian economy that is
business events”.