Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland is calling for certainty on Easter public holidays into the future saying the addition of Sunday will increase costs for businesses

Transcript

Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland is calling for certainty on Easter public holidays into the future saying the addition of Sunday will increase costs for businesses · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We learned earlier this week that the Northern Territory government
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: would be declaring that Easter Sunday will be a public
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: holiday for twenty twenty three. No doubt welcome news for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: workers who are going to be heading in for a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: shift if you are on Easter Sunday. But what kind
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  Speaker 1: of impact will it have? Four businesses? Well, Joining me
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  Speaker 1: on the line is Greg Island, the CEO of the
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  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce. Get a Greg.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Good morning Canny.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Greg, what do you make of this declaration that
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: we are going to have Easter Sunday as a public
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  Speaker 1: holiday for this year as well?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? OK, that certainly doesn't come as any surprise. We've
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  Speaker 2: seen the trend of declaring these days as holidays even
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  Speaker 2: though we are having a holiday for that day on
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  Speaker 2: a different day. That situations occurred Christmas, New Year and
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: all of those situations, So no surprises there. It does
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  Speaker 2: increase costs for business that they want to trade on
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: those particular days. We've been saying that around these other
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: circumstances as well, and business will choose whether they choose
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to choose to wear that traditional cost or or stay closed.
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  Speaker 2: That's the risk for I guess the consumer in the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day as those operating costs increase.
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  Speaker 1: Greig, would it be easier if we just sort of
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  Speaker 1: knew at the start of the year all the different
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  Speaker 1: public holidays that were gazetted, rather than kind of finding
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  Speaker 1: out later in the year after you've probably done a
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  Speaker 1: lot of your costings for your business for the year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, that also has been our feedback to government
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  Speaker 2: on these particular issues. Understanding those costs before you get
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: started is crucial for business to plan effect effectively. There
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: has been some good news with that. We've recently provided
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  Speaker 2: some input into some legislation changes that will achieve that
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: particular outcome, and that's now been finalized and going through
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  Speaker 2: its process. I guess we will know that we will
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  Speaker 2: turn slowly and that will be happening in due course.
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  Speaker 1: So do you reckon? In some cases though, we might
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  Speaker 1: find that some businesses that were maybe planning to open
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: decide not to.
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  Speaker 2: You look, absolutely been the case previously, particularly restaurants and
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  Speaker 2: those businesses that are impacted by those loadings on those days.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we're finding that businesses just choose that it's
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  Speaker 2: sometimes easier if they can't resource properly to keep the
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  Speaker 2: door shut, which is a bit of a shame because
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  Speaker 2: most people like to get out and enjoy some of
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  Speaker 2: those social aspects over those festive times, and if those
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  Speaker 2: options are limited, it does impact on e quality of life.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Greg, every time we catch up, you and I
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: seem to talk about interest rate rises and we know
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  Speaker 1: that we are expecting another one today. What impact are
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  Speaker 1: these rate rises having here in the Northern Territory when
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you talk about business operations?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, every increase Katie's is doing more and more damage
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  Speaker 2: to the business's cost of operations, and that ultimately gets
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  Speaker 2: passed on to the consumer. The same way the banks
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: pass on those interest rate rises to people with mortgages
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  Speaker 2: very quickly, business has to do the same. So ultimately
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  Speaker 2: it impacts all of us in our hip pockets. And
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  Speaker 2: that is a trend that's been continuing for some time.
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  Speaker 2: We hope there's a light at the end of that tunnel,
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  Speaker 2: but that's still potentially a little way away.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we're all hoping that, And I suppose
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  Speaker 1: what we've seen as well, Greg, is that the cost
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  Speaker 1: of not only interest rates, but the cost of everything
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  Speaker 1: seems to be on the rise. And I do wonder
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  Speaker 1: are you finding that Northern territory businesses noticing that territories
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  Speaker 1: are maybe not spending as much on that disposable income
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  Speaker 1: that they might have previously had.
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  Speaker 2: That's absolutely the case, Katie, that discretionary spending becomes contested
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  Speaker 2: when you've got a pay extra on your mortgage and
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  Speaker 2: the cost of base services that you just have to
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: pay for is increasing electricity and rental and so forth
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  Speaker 2: the main contributing factors there. That means you less time
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  Speaker 2: in the shops, spending and restaurants, etc. So it certainly
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: has an immediate flow on effect.
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  Speaker 1: Well NT Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland always appreciate
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  Speaker 1: your time. Thanks so much for having a chat with
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  Speaker 1: me this morning.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie. You have a great day you too.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you.