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The Accommodation Association of Australia (AAoA) is calling on Labor to acknowledge Saturday’s (Sep 7) election result by not standing in the way of repealing the carbon tax.

The AAoA, Garry Crockett, has welcomed the election of the Coalition Government in Canberra, saying that the accommodation industry looks forward to Mr Abbott and his team using its mandate for reform.

The Association’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Munro, is pleased that repealing the carbon tax is on top of Abbott’s ‘to-do’ list.

“There has been nothing positive about the carbon tax for the accommodation industry,” he said.

“It has imposed significant additional costs on accommodation businesses, due to increases in supplier charges, higher utility bills and it has robbed domestic visitors of discretionary income, eroding consumer confidence.

“The accommodation industry supports repealing the carbon tax and is calling on Labor to use its numbers in the Senate to ensure that this happens before the end of this year.”

The Accommodation Association is pleased with a number of other Coalition policy commitments.

“A number of operators in the accommodation industry are small businesses, so we are pleased that the Coalition has promised a higher emphasis on supporting small businesses,” Munro said.

“On industrial relations, it’s vital that the current regime changes to take into account the 24/7 nature of the accommodation industry.

“The Accommodation Association plans to make this point to the Productivity Commission when it reviews the current, out-dated workplace relations laws.”