The Honourable Dr Denis Napthine, Premier of the State of Victoria, Australia,
Mr Mark Lankester, Group CEO of Tune Hotels,
Mr Nathan, General Manager Tune Hotel Melbourne,
Distinguished Guests,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great pleasure for me to be here today. Although I was invited to attend another meeting, but instead I chose to be here among all of you, with this Baju Melayu Costume and a traditional Malay Head Gear in this important day of the week. Why? The reason being; the opening of the Tune Hotel in Melbourne marks another significant milestone in the long relationship between Malaysia and Australia, in particular with the state of Victoria.
Ever since the Malaysia Consulate General Office is established in Melbourne in July 2011, there have been many investments by Malaysian companies in Victoria. The accumulated business investments from the period of 2008 till 2011 had been in the figure of USD2.5 billion. In Melbourne itself, we have Malaysian owned hotels such as Seasons, Bayview Eden, Raddisson, and Mariott which was bought over by our prestigious construction company YTL. Now we have here today the Tune Hotel. I am glad that Tune Hotel is not just owned by Malaysia, but its brand name is 100% totally Malaysia’s.
Five days ago our Foreign Minister came to Melbourne for a working visit, and during his visit he had also together with the Victorian Minister of Environment Ryan Smith participated in the official ground breaking ceremony of the SP Setia Second Project here in Melbourne called the PARQUE. In all, SP Setia injected around RM2.3 billion for both its Fulton Lane and PARQUE projects. I am happy that now not just SETIA, but Tune is making its way into Australia i.e. Melbourne, and thus forming up more homegrown Malaysian brand in Australia.
Tune hotel is well known for providing great value and great savings. Its core proposition is to offer a great night’s sleep at a reasonable and affordable price. The same as its sister company Air Asia X concept “now everybody can fly”, I can say “now everybody can sleep comfortably”.
I am also pleased to note that Tune Hotels now operates 34 hotels worldwide including the one here in Melbourne. There are 11 Tune Hotels in Malaysia; 6 in the Philippines, 5 each in the UK and Indonesia, 4 in Thailand, and 1 each in Australia, India and Japan. I also noted through my conversation with the management of the Tune Hotel, that further expansions will be made in these countries I had mentioned just now, as well as being planned in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. KUDOS AND A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO TUNE.
It is not just about bringing in revenues/incomes through our cross border investment such as this, it is also not just about making Malaysian brand name being known in overseas, but most importantly is that the opening up of Tune Hotel Melbourne, and its decision to base its operational headquarters for Australia and New Zealand here in Melbourne, would further strengthen the bilateral ties between Malaysia and the State of Victoria.
Our two great countries are located in the fastest growing region in the world, and have an immense historical depth, distinct cultural characteristics and strong traditions that have helped to shape the destiny of our countries in this geographical area.
Our long history and relationship reached a new high this year when the Malaysia Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA) came into force on 1st January 2013. The steady and multi-faceted expansion of our cooperation has dramatically transformed the nature of our bilateral relations, moving Australia and Malaysia much closer together.
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I also note that interest in Malaysia by Victorian businesses is very high. The Victorian Premier the Hon Dr Denis Napthine himself (you sir) led a Super Trade Mission to SE Asia in June this year and a key destination was Malaysia. I am happy that our office here in Melbourne managed to assist the Hon Dr Denis Napthine to meet with the Prime Minister of Malaysia during his trip to Kuala Lumpur.
This was the largest ever trade mission from Australia to the region and it was a great success and will provide a platform to identify business opportunities in Malaysia for Victorian/Australian businesses. In fact through this Super Trade Mission, many milestone relationships have been established. Among which is the keenness for both Malaysia and Victoria in particular to assist each other in expanding our bilateral trade, investment and people to people link. The fact that the Hon Dr Denis Napthine took his time off his busy schedule to attend today’s event made happened by a Malaysian company is a testament of this. Thank you sir, and AS THE SAYING “TO KNOW MALAYSIA IS TO LOVE MALAYSIA”.
Tourism between Australia and Malaysia grows with more than 500,000 visitors from Australia to Malaysia over the past years – and we are confident that number will increase substantially in 2014 with our Visit Malaysia Year. Melbourne already enjoys high visitation from Malaysia as well as strong air connections with Kuala Lumpur through Air Asia X, which operates direct double daily flight between KL and Melbourne. Not to forget also MAS which will on 22 November 2013 commence a third flight daily from Melbourne to KL and vice versa. This steady inflow on tourists from Australia especially Victoria and vice versa (there are about 90,000 Malaysians travelling to Victoria per year) will assist in further enhance our people to people link, and this is what Tune Hotel is rightly doing. Through Tune Hotels’ low cost model, guests can tailor their hotel experience according to their needs, and thus making travelling and knowing each other much easier.
Tune Hotel can also assist Malaysians here in Melbourne and the State of Victoria. There are more than 70,000 Malaysians here in Victoria, of which 50,000 Malaysians are in Melbourne (including 9,000 over Malaysian students in various prestigious universities in Melbourne). They can now besides enjoying their staying and working in Victoria, can also enjoy their stay in this most livable city in the world, not just in terms of quality but also affordability. As it is located in the heart of Carlton, this hotel is within walking distance of the reputable RMIT University, the well-known Melbourne Central, the prestigious University of Melbourne and the famous Queen Victoria Market.
What Tune Hotel is currently doing in ensuring everybody can now sleep at ease also reflects Malaysia’s 1Malaysia People First, Performance Now concept. And I sincerely hope that more Malaysian companies will come forward and walk the talk on this 1Malaysia Concept as Tune is presently doing. Congratulations Tune….
