Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce welcomes the much needed funding to lure international workers to fill worker shortages

Transcript

Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce welcomes the much needed funding to lure international workers to fill worker shortages · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Can we know that yesterday? As part of the twelve
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: point eight million dollar package to lure people from overseas
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: once the international borders open later this month, the Northern
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Territory government has put forward a strong focus on international
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: worker incentives. So there's two point six million dollars on
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the table to deliver the Working holiday Maker campaign and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Tourism and Hospitality turbo charge.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: This includes a marketing campaign to attract around two thousand
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: new tourism and hospitality workers to the NT by April.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: This is among several other international worker incentives, including migration
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: support and connecting businesses with job seekers. It's something that
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: industry has been talking about for quite some time. And
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the CEO of Hospitality here in the Northern Territory, Alex Bruce,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Alex.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Alex. What is the feeling in the hospitality industry about
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: yesterday's announcement.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I'll look a fair bit of positive news over the
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: last twenty four or forty eight hours, you know, from
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Quantus flight through to the packages announced yesterday that will
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: help us both promote international tourism back into the territory
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: but also importantly have the workforce ready to match that.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: There's even a work hard, play hard, little extra kicker
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: that we can provide hospitality workers that we do recruit
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: up here, which gets them out and about on their
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: days off, further contributing to a bit of a boost
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: into the tourism space. So credit to the government and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: the agencies that have been working on this. It's safe
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: to say, you know, the crystal ball of COVID. No
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: one really knew what we were going to face last
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: year and we hit our peak seasons in Top End
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: and Central Australia very early on in our strides. A
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: lot of that got ripped out as the East Coast
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: went into lockdowns, but we found as things were gearing
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: up we didn't have the workers to match it last year.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: So this is a little bit further forward for us.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Our typical peak recruitment is March April. Still a lot
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: of uncertainty, I've got to say, and unfortunately there's still
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: a lot of businesses that are employing less people and
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: putting less people on rosters right now. But we are
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: looking at light at the end of that tunnel and
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: hope hopefully matching that has things normalized and customers, both
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: locals and tourists, come back. We have the workforce ready
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: to serve them.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, because it's kind of difficult, isn't it. Like until
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: those tourists arrive, and until you've got all of those
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: visitors out and about, and until you've got more people
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in your pubs and restaurants and cafes, etc. It's hard
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to sort of put extra people on until you've got
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the customers coming in.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: That's it. And a lot of businesses that are holding
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: staff right now and trading in losses, but they want
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to keep those staff connected to the business because they
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: are hoping that you come to dry season. It is
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: a different kettle of fish we're dealing with, so it
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: is a juggling act. It's tricky. The government did do
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: that hardship package a couple of weeks ago. For us,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: it wasn't quite what we're after, but better than nothing.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: And then yesterday's announcements we've got we've got to say,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you know, we do appreciate that they are working in
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the space as best they can.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously this package does have a focus on
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: filling those gaps and meeting the skill shortages in the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: territories workforce like how engaged have the government been with
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the likes of organizations like yours in terms of sort
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: of creating that marketing campaign and the best approach needed
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to try and lure people to the territory.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I look the marketing stuff, I think there are we
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: have an abundance of so called experts up there, so
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I'll leave it to them. But you know, behind the
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: scenes engagement with some of the backpacker joints to help
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: those backpackers that come up place them in our industry
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: and other industries try and keep them for longer. This season,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: there's been a lot of work behind the scenes from
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: industry in that space and the government department. So that's
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: all very good. And you know, we do have Carl
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Cox coming back up again. Yep. We are hoping that
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: we can be a bit of a reviable spot again
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: for the backpacker market that had been in decline for
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: many years previous to COVID.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Now do you reckon that the idea of attracting two
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: thousand people that's what they said their aim is by April.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Is that realistic?
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah? It is. I'd say there's still confusion and uncertainty
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: on some of the rules in our space and what
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: kind of environment those people would be coming to. So
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: it was good to hear the chief on your show
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: yesterday say that international tourists that were coming in and
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: you know, potentially future workers for us, the double vaccination
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: would be all that's required. But you know, how does
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that sit with our workforce mandates where to employ them?
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: They might need a third jab. Others have correctly identified, well,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: what's the discrepancy between locals versus internationals? And does that
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: also mean domestic tourists are similarly only going to need
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: two jabs. So you know, we'd ideally we'd love that
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: third JEB requirement only on aged care and nursing homes
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and all those vulnerable spaces. Leave that to them. But
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: you know, if a customers coming from Sydney or Bloody
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Sweden and I'm serving them a beer at the pub,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: how come the worker has to be triple vaxed but
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: neither of the two customers do. So you know, we
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: would like to get the vax mandate off our workforce
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: as soon as possible. Yeah, and then again, you know
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: we've spoken about this before, Kate, but you know, those
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: that aren't going to get vaxed, aren't going to get vaxed,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: and we just need to move on and stop denigrating them.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was you know, with that triple vax
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: double vax with the international tourist, that was something that
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: you know that we'd all been wondering exactly what was
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: going to happen. And yesterday when he said that, I
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: did ask is that fair then, given the fact that
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: you are expecting workers to be triple vaxed. He didn't
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: seem like he was going to budge in that space.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: So are we now spending money advertising a international person
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: to come here, to tour here and hopefully to work
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: with us, only for them to turn up and say, sorry,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you can't get the job with us.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: This is where we need that certainty, isn't it. You know,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: like we've got to have those rules in place. There's
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: it's got to be there, clear in black and white,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: in those Chief Health Officer directions so that people know
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: exactly what they're in for.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: That's it. And you know, we thought that we were
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: learning to live with it, or that we should be
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: living with it by now, and we do support the vaccine,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: we do continue to encourage them will be putting out
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: messages into our workforce going forward now, but you know
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the actual mandate itself may have been past it's use
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: by day.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce, it's always good to catch up with you.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. Just very quickly, mate,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: what do you think of these Quantus flights?
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Oh? Great news. And if we can get not only
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: tourists but some workers on those planes from London coming in,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: that'd be fantastic.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: It really would be. Always appreciate your time, Alex. Thanks
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: so much for having it out with me this morning.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Thank you