The costs of running local zoos and aquariums have continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite these businesses having to close their doors to visitors.
Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan has today welcomed the Federal Government providing a $94.6 million support package to help these businesses get through the pandemic.
“Our local zoos and aquariums provide huge positive flow-on effects to our local economy as they encourage visitors to town and to stay,” he said.
“I called for this funding a number of weeks ago after I was contacted by Dolphin Marine Conservation Park in Coffs Harbour and Billabong Zoo near Port Macquarie seeking help with their mounting costs and no money coming in.
“We need these tourist and cultural attractions to remain long after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, so I thank Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham and Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley for providing this lifeline.”
The support package will assist exhibiting zoos and aquariums with the fixed operational costs associated with the caring of their animals.
Dolphin Marine Conservation Park General Manager Terry Goodall has welcomed the new support.
“While we are quite a small park in comparison with the likes of Taronga Zoo in Sydney, our costs have continued during the pandemic and our revenue has fallen to zero for the last 7 weeks,” Mr Goodall said.
“We have a skeleton staffing team on at the moment, yet our costs remain at upwards of $20,000 a week to feed and care for the animals. And because we are a saltwater park, we have additional costs associated with pumping water from the creek, maintaining the considerable infrastructure required for that and testing the water up to four times per day to ensure the health of our dolphins and sea lions.
“This grant program is an absolute lifeline for our enterprise and I look forward to working with Austrade to apply for it.”
Austrade will work with the Zoo and Aquarium Association to identify eligible members, as well as state and territory tourism organisations to identify non-members which may be eligible for financial assistance.
This initiative is part of the Government’s $1 billion Relief and Recovery Fund to support regions, communities and industry sectors that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
