Portfolio — 11 June 2026

Assistant Minister Matt Thistlethwaite used a Cairns address to the My Queensland conference on 10 June to advance a coordinated regional tourism and reef-protection message, combining immediate operational reassurance with substantial funding commitments [TA-260610-dfat-7475d6a57786]. Speaking to Tourism Tropical North Queensland, he positioned the sector as a world-class driver of jobs, community strength and international connection for the region [TA-260610-dfat-7475d6a57786].

The most operationally significant element was his announcement that the government is supplying an additional 39.4 million litres of diesel to Brisbane as a buffer for regional Queensland, accompanied by an explicit assertion that fuel supply remains stable notwithstanding the ongoing Middle East conflict. That message directly addresses a potential confidence risk for tourism operators dependent on regional transport and logistics.

On funding, Thistlethwaite outlined three distinct commitments supporting the reef and tourism corridor: $91.8 million for the Great Barrier Reef in the Federal Budget, $5 million to extend the Tourism Reef Protection Initiative, and $130 million for the second stage of the "Come and Say G'day" campaign [TA-260610-dfat-7475d6a57786]. The marketing investment in particular is a demand-side instrument aimed at sustaining the visitor growth the minister cited from Tourism Research Australia data — a 13 percent rise in international visitors and a 27 percent increase in visitor spending in the December 2025 quarter, with total tourism spend in Tropical North Queensland reaching $4.4 billion.

Taken together, the address threads supply-side stability (fuel security), asset protection (reef funding), and demand generation (marketing) into a single regional-tourism narrative. No parliamentary segment is available for this date; the record reflects the comms stream only.