A group of MPs - including member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain - has attended a meeting at Parliament House in support of planning for a return of the domestic cruise industry.
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The meeting, organised by Queensland MP and member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, heard from cruise company Carnival and some of the Australian businesses which rely totally on the cruise industry for their business.
"This was about a focus on the East Coast and so I invited colleagues representing those areas. I didn't want it to be a partisan event, I invited Kristy McBain because of the connection with Eden and I appreciated her attending," Mr Entsch said.
Ms McBain said she was happy to attend the event.
"Eden businesses have been hard hit by the bushfires and then COVID-19. With a lot of local businesses relying on the cruise industry, we need to find a way to bring cruises back to kick-start the local economy and provide relief to businesses that have been resilient for far too long," Ms McBain said.
However, Ms McBain said while she supports a reinvigoration of domestic cruising, a pivotal concern was ensuring safety measures were in place.
"The health and safety of our community is the highest priority and before any cruise ships come to Eden we need to make sure procedures and protocols are air tight," Ms McBain told ACM.
"While I can't wait for the day that a cruise ship returns to Eden Port, it's important that our main focus is on fixing the vaccine rollout to ensure our community is safe and protected," Ms McBain said.
Eden Tourism and Cruise Eden Coordinator Debbie Meers said she backed the sentiment from Ms McBain and that she was supportive of creating a pathway for the safe return of cruise visits.
"I think it's really exciting for the future and once it's safe and our community is protected - be that through vaccination and protocol and policies - there is a really exciting future for cruise visits into Eden.
Ms Meers said she was grateful for the support of the MPs, but also the work of the Cruise Line International Association and the Australian Cruise Association, who have been working towards the development of pathway opportunities to see cruises return.
"We really appreciate the work being done by those two organisations and the MPs and the cruise lines that are working with the government to build a pathway to see it restart."
However, Ms Meers said she could understand community trepidation about the return of cruise visits and said community wellbeing was paramount in the decision making.
"What is paramount is our community safety and wellbeing," she said. "Whatever decisions or pathways or restart happens, our safety has to be first and foremost in those proceedings.
Mr Entsch said the meeting was about getting the planning underway so they can make a timely return.
"It doesn't make sense to continue to lock out cruising - we're talking about the domestic industry here. It will take several months to return to service so let's start talking about it now, let's go through the protocols," Mr Entsch said.
"If we are able to facilitate domestic airline travel, we should be able to do this as well and sort out the glitches. It's a no-brainer to incorporate New Zealand as a cruise bubble and start to expand," he added.
"We could even expand to trips around the Antarctic - it's pretty safe to assume there's not a lot of COVID around the penguins," Mr Entsch said.
He said that cruising - albeit with limited numbers - was already taking place between Cairns and the Kimberley.
"I am asking for a restart of domestic tourism, now's the time because we have the people, we've got an opportunity and we have a great product."
Following the meeting and support from attending MPs, Mr Entsch has written to the Tourism Minister Dan Tehan, the Health Minister Greg Hunt, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
The MPs want the government to create a framework for a return to domestic cruising in Australia.
Royal Caribbean cruises has already flagged a return to domestic cruising but not until the 2022/23 season, a spokesman for the company said early this year.
