Lizzie Pearl, Host: Well, Tourism Australia has a brand-new ambassador. Meet Ruby the Kangaroo and she'll be hopping onto billboards all around the globe from today, inviting international travellers to come and say good day and to stay and spend in Australia. Joining me now from Japan is the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Don Farrell. Minister, thanks for joining me. Good afternoon. You've just unveiled Ruby to the world on a major billboard in Tokyo. Tell us, what was the reception like?
Minister for Trade, Don Farrell: Oh, look, it was terrific Liz. You're right, we launched our Tourism Australia new brand ambassador, Ruby the Roo, and she's going to be jumping right across the world from Tokyo to Singapore to London, and finally next week in New York. She's saying to all of those international travellers who have wanted to come to Australia, Come and Say G'day. That's the message, and Ruby the Roo is going to be announcing that right across the world.
Lizzie Pearl: And they are key markets for Australia. Tell us why those places were chosen?
Minister for Trade: Well, we wanted to start in Japan. Today is a big day in Japan - for the first time since the pandemic, the Japanese borders have opened. We know there's a lot of pent-up demand from Japanese consumers to come to Australia. We want to be there to make sure that we take advantage of that. And of course, Singapore is another great market for us England. We've always had terrific tourism interest from England, and of course the United States. The numbers of travellers from the United States have dropped off, we want to rebuild that and we want to get those international tourists coming back to Australia. We want them to Come and Say G'day.
Lizzie Pearl: Well, and Ruby the Roo has a voice too. Well actually, she has a couple of voices. Tell us about the high-profile voices. Who will be the voice of Ruby?
Minister for Trade: Well, in particular, the voice in the English version will be Rose Byrne, a very successful Australian actress, and Maryjun Takahashi will be the voice in Japan. We are very confident that these ads and these billboards will be very, very popular and the result will be that international tourism returns to Australia to at least pre-pandemic levels.
Lizzie Pearl: Ruby, the Roo is a bit of fun, but let's be serious, the tourism industry copped an absolute beating during COVID. How is it doing now? And how important is it that Ruby does her job and brings all of those visitors back to our country?
Minister for Trade: It's vital. You're right, the international tourism has been knocked about over the last couple of years of the Pandemic. We want that to be behind us now. We're very confident of that now because of the research that Tourism Research Australia has done. That there's a great deal of pent-up demand out there and all of those international travellers can now safely come back and Come and Say G'day when they come to Australia.
Lizzie Pearl: Well, we hope you're right. Senator Farrell, thank you so much for your time on the afternoon news.
Minister for Trade: Thanks, Liz.