**Check against delivery
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the Old Castlemaine Gaol.
It is a pleasure to be here today to officially launch this project - another in the long list of regional projects driven by the passion of communities and supported by the Australian Government.
There is a growing recognition of the importance tourism plays in regional communities, and that if you are going to capitalise on your tourism potential that you need quality attractions.
The reason is simple: when you provide more to visitors you give more visitors a reason to visit.
The Castlemaine Goal is a great example of that theory in practise.
With the Australian Government's assistance of $100,000, visitors will experience the gaol as never before, with better facilities and an improved interpretive centre.
The Government is pleased to be able to better position the Australian tourism industry in what is a highly competitive market.
This will help tourism operators and regions offer a better product, and give both domestic and international travellers more reasons to choose Australia as their next destination.
I also hope that locals realise the opportunities in their own backyard.
But to grab locals, the same rule applies: they also want a product that's unique and a product that excites.
The Australian Government understands that unique is not quite enough at the moment because of the financial uncertainty which is gripping the world.
To combat this, the Australian Government has undertaken numerous policy actions which will directly boost the tourist industry in Australia.
Some of these might not be considered directly tourism-related, but due to tourism's interaction with the wider economy they most certainly are.
For example, in the 2009 Budget the Australian Government announced an investment of $8.5 billion in transport infrastructure projects - of which $760 million in Victoria's road and rail infrastructure.
This investment will support local jobs and local businesses during the current global recession.
All up, the 2009-10 Budget delivers an increase in Federal funding of $265 million, or 53 per cent, over the 2008-09 Budget for Victorian road and rail projects.
This of course - is in additions to the $800 million Community Infrastructure Program, which is funding a tourism and community projects throughout Victoria and every other state.
Perhaps more importantly - this funding is supporting jobs, which is essential to an industry like tourism which is so reliant on disposable income.
So the tax cuts which began on 1 July will also help support tourism.
But in recent years, we have found another challenge that the Australian Government is seeking to address - the hoarding of leave.
It is very hard for me to understand how Australian businesses have allowed their workers to accumulate 123 milliondays of leave.
This is presently worth around $33 billion in wages, but as we all know, this liability is increasing every year.
Unlocking even a small proportion of this leave and converting it into an Australian holiday will have an enormous impact on tourism in Australia.
Leave is there to be taken - and through Tourism Australia's No Leave, No Life campaign we are working with Australian employers and employees to support the domestic tourism industry.
Implementing the NLNL initiative is a high priority for Tourism Australia and the Australian Government and I have been very pleased by the strong response so far received.
So far - more than 300 major employers, with a combined workforce of close to 500,000 people have signed on.
I can now recommend Castlemaine Gaol as a trip worth taking.
Ladies and gentlemen, projects such as these are never easy, so I launch congratulate Central Victoria Training Group and Mount Alexander Shire for their commitment and dedication to seeing this project through, and passion in making it a reality.
You have done a magnificent job.
It gives me great pleasure to officially launch the 'Enhancing the Goldfields Experience' project.
Thank you.