Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce about the need to open up the NT

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Katie spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce about the need to open up the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We now know that we've seen sort of new South Wales,
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  Speaker 1: Victoria the Act and indeed Queensland announce their plans to
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  Speaker 1: open up to the rest of the country. Here in
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  Speaker 1: the territory, the current plan is to reach the eighty
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  Speaker 1: percent vaccination by early next month and when we get there,
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  Speaker 1: it is expected and we're expecting an announcement on this
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  Speaker 1: pretty soon, if not today, very soon, but we will
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  Speaker 1: be able to home quarantine for fourteen days if we
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  Speaker 1: go to a hotspot. Now the catch is the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the nation aside from wa is opening up. So
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  Speaker 1: under that current plan that's been provided by the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory government, there is potentially going to be a lot
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  Speaker 1: of orange or amber and red zones locations with COVID.
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  Speaker 1: So many are now starting to wonder if we are
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  Speaker 1: going to have to quarantine if we travel away to
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  Speaker 1: see family, or if we've got family or friends or
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  Speaker 1: tourists come to visit us. And that's obviously the big
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  Speaker 1: issue here as well, is tourism and hospitality industries and
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  Speaker 1: how they're going to be impacted and if the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the country does open up. But here in the territory,
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  Speaker 1: we remain in the situation that we're in now. Joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line to talk more about this is
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  Speaker 1: hospitality NTCEEO Alex Bruce, Good morning, Alex.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Key Now Alex, we know.
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  Speaker 1: That WA obviously made that significant move yesterday mandating the
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  Speaker 1: vaccine for particular industries. Queensland meanwhile has announced a pretty
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  Speaker 1: definitive plan a phased border reopening for fully vaccinated people
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  Speaker 1: from November nineteen, so fully vaccinated travelers will be allowed
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  Speaker 1: to enter Queensland without the need to quarantine.
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  Speaker 2: Then from December seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: And at that date those fully vaccinated interstate visitors who
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  Speaker 1: have recorded a negative COVID nineteen test in the past
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  Speaker 1: seventy two hours would be allowed to enter without having
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  Speaker 1: to quarantine.
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  Speaker 2: Alex.
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  Speaker 1: Is this the way we need to start looking at moving.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely? And I think I think the government and the
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  Speaker 3: community understand that it's just a matter of fixing a
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  Speaker 3: date now. You know, a lot of big news yesterday
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  Speaker 3: focusing on the Queensland announcements. That provides the certainty for
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  Speaker 3: everybody in our businesses but also in the community friends
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  Speaker 3: and relatives planning their trips into Queensland now, But unfortunately
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  Speaker 3: territory and families don't have that certainty yet on what
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  Speaker 3: our date would be, and it's a bit toofold for us.
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  Speaker 3: We're seeing with this mandatory vaccination requirement in our industry
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  Speaker 3: and others, a larger uptake of the vaccine. When you
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  Speaker 3: threaten someone's livelihood and coerce them to get the JAB,
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  Speaker 3: you will drive the vaccination rate up in that covid
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  Speaker 3: hesitant group that's occurring in our workforce, at least young
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  Speaker 3: healthy persons. It does nothing to drive up the vac
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  Speaker 3: rates in the vulnerable groups, you know, the indigenous, our communities,
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  Speaker 3: the elderly urban population, both of which we are behind
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  Speaker 3: other parts of the country in the vax rates. So
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  Speaker 3: we think that having this definitive date of when our
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  Speaker 3: borders would open up would help drive the vax rates
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  Speaker 3: up in those two groups as well. And bearing in
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  Speaker 3: mind by all the evidence. You know, we're not doctors,
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  Speaker 3: but the evidence seems to be very clear across the
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  Speaker 3: country they're the groups that are most at risk of
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  Speaker 3: clogging our hospitals.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean your spot on.
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  Speaker 1: I know that neither you or I are medical professionals,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll leave the medical advice for those in those
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  Speaker 1: roles but you know, an observation is that Queensland doesn't
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  Speaker 1: have COVID similar to us. Obviously we don't have COVID
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  Speaker 1: in the community, and they've also got a very vulnerable
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  Speaker 1: community in different locations. So it seems like we could
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  Speaker 1: really have quite a similar situation here in the Northern
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  Speaker 1: territory if the will is there, Yeah, and.
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  Speaker 3: Leave it to the government and based on the best
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  Speaker 3: health advice on what pegg in the sand, the actual
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  Speaker 3: date they want to We've made it clear to them that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we need to see the borders normalize in
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  Speaker 3: January or February ideally now, but you know, by January
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  Speaker 3: or February, but we need that announcement pre Christmas. We
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  Speaker 3: need the peg in the sand. You know, when everyone's
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  Speaker 3: on their Christmas holidays wherever they are, they're often thinking
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  Speaker 3: about the year ahead, catching up with family and friends,
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  Speaker 3: what their next holiday will be. We really can't be
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  Speaker 3: in a situation where we're telling everyone we'll get back
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  Speaker 3: to you and missed that opportunity to get the bookings
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  Speaker 3: and the marketing done to those customers across the country
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  Speaker 3: over that Christmas holiday period.
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  Speaker 2: Alex.
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  Speaker 1: If we don't go down a path like that, what
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  Speaker 1: impact is it going to have on the Northern territory
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  Speaker 1: from a hospitality perspective.
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  Speaker 3: Look again, we've appreciated the announcements that the government has
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  Speaker 3: made to date, and you know, across the country for
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  Speaker 3: the last eighteen months, our industry has had a better
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  Speaker 3: survival rate and a more balanced approach up in this
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  Speaker 3: jurisdiction compared to any none and that's still the case
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  Speaker 3: right right now. They are doing a good job by
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  Speaker 3: and large juggling a pretty tricky balancing act between health
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  Speaker 3: and the economy and jobs and all the rest of it.
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  Speaker 3: When we do look across the country, we are very thankful,
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  Speaker 3: but going forward, the real risk for us is we're
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  Speaker 3: left as the laggards in the back whilst the rest
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  Speaker 3: of the country is opening up. When they did announce
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  Speaker 3: the Green Amber Red policy, we of course supported it
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  Speaker 3: based on the health advice that the government's getting, but
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  Speaker 3: we made clear as soon as someone from Melbourne or
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  Speaker 3: Sydney that's double vaxed with their seventy two hours less
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  Speaker 3: than a PCR result, jumps on a plane and can
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  Speaker 3: go to cams next dry season, we need to be
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  Speaker 3: matching that and the sooner we can tell those there
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  Speaker 3: would be tourists that we are matching that the better.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean in Queensland that's happening from December seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: So are we going to be left behind?
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  Speaker 1: Ah?
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  Speaker 3: Look looking at the numbers and the modest uptake of
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  Speaker 3: the tourism vouches today, still is some reluctancy for territoriums
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  Speaker 3: to travel out of the territory. This this quiet wet season,
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  Speaker 3: we will see an uptick in our accommodation and some
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  Speaker 3: tourist products. It's not a silver bullet and definitely more
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  Speaker 3: top end focused and less less support for Central Australia
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  Speaker 3: through any of those schemes. So I suppose you know,
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  Speaker 3: with the high turnover of bookings and cancelations and rebookings
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  Speaker 3: we've had, we're all right to sit through on what
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  Speaker 3: we're doing right now. You know, we want it more normalized,
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  Speaker 3: We want it yesterday, but we just really need a
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  Speaker 3: date in January or February announced before Christmas for us
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  Speaker 3: to all really plan our year ahead.
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  Speaker 1: Now, when you you said just a little bit earlier
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  Speaker 1: that since that vaccine mandate there has been quite an
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  Speaker 1: uptick of people in your industry going to get the vaccine.
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  Speaker 2: How like, how many are we talking? Is there any idea?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So we've got a survey out at the moment
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  Speaker 3: because we have to all of the respectful discussions that
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  Speaker 3: we spoke about last week between the businesses and their
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  Speaker 3: workers are still ongoing, and you know, there's a bit
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  Speaker 3: of a process to go through with all that to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that fair work obligations are met. And I
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  Speaker 3: do want to stress we fully appreciate that our industry,
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  Speaker 3: like the community, there are very mixed views on this topic.
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  Speaker 3: We're not supportive of language that seeks to denigrate people's
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  Speaker 3: views on this It is very important. We would have
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  Speaker 3: preferred more of a carrot approach versus a threatening people's
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  Speaker 3: jobs stick approach, but it is what it is. We're
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  Speaker 3: working through it. The survey at the moment, we've had
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  Speaker 3: over fourteen hundred workers surveyed through their businesses. Nine percent
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  Speaker 3: is the rate that aren't going to get vaccinated at
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  Speaker 3: this at this stage that they're reporting through to their businesses.
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  Speaker 1: Right, so about nine percent of the hospitality workforce saying
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time that they do not want
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  Speaker 1: to get vaccinated.
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  Speaker 3: Correct that. I think they're the higher proportion than that
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  Speaker 3: but when you threaten their livelihoods and their employment, nine
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  Speaker 3: percent of the ones that are really saying well, I'll
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  Speaker 3: end up having to leave the business when this direction
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  Speaker 3: comes into effect. And on top of that, we're currently
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  Speaker 3: holding about twelve percent vacant positions in our businesses too,
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  Speaker 3: So the cumulative effect you will see a challenged offering
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  Speaker 3: in our space going forward for a while until international
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  Speaker 3: boarders normalize and we can really get our workforce back
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  Speaker 3: where it needs to be. So we just ask customers
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  Speaker 3: and territories to be conscious of that when they're operating
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  Speaker 3: in our businesses.
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  Speaker 1: So right now, there is that twelve percent vacancy rate
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  Speaker 1: in your industry, in the hospitality industry. And then add
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  Speaker 1: on top of that that from this survey that you're
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  Speaker 1: conducting right now, it's showing that you've got a nine
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  Speaker 1: percent of the workforce not wanting to get vaccinated. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: when you add those two figures together, is this going
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  Speaker 1: to have quite a big impact.
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  Speaker 3: Oh. Look, if if we're carrying into the ramp up
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  Speaker 3: next year a twenty percent workforce shortage, it's going to
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  Speaker 3: have some challenges for us. But look, the survey is
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  Speaker 3: still ongoing at the moment. That's from fourteen over fourteen
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  Speaker 3: hundred responses. But you know our combined tourism hospitality industry
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  Speaker 3: sixteen thousand workers strong. So we'll wait for more of
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  Speaker 3: a data to roll through until we can get that
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  Speaker 3: picture made clearer.
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  Speaker 2: When are you expecting that to be complete?
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  Speaker 3: To Alex, Well, the businesses are all having those discussions
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  Speaker 3: and that started last week. We got some industrial relations
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  Speaker 3: advice out to our members Monday this week with some
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  Speaker 3: of the formal ways they need to engage with their
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  Speaker 3: workforce on the chose direction. So that that's happening, and
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  Speaker 3: so you know, a small business with fewer employees, they're
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  Speaker 3: the ones that are probably able to be quite definitive
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  Speaker 3: about what their workforces were in that specific business is doing.
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  Speaker 3: Some of the larger employers that are continuing to go
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  Speaker 3: through that process. So you know, we think the numbers
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  Speaker 3: will continue to roll through this week and next.
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  Speaker 1: Alex, you mentioned before the carrot and the stick. I
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  Speaker 1: can see from other locations around Australia that different states
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  Speaker 1: are certainly trying different tax It seems as though in
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  Speaker 1: way they're certainly going with the stick approach as we
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  Speaker 1: are here in the territory in Queensland they're going with
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  Speaker 1: that carrot. Is it time for the Chief Minister to
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  Speaker 1: sort of come out and maybe, you know, give the
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  Speaker 1: territory in some kind of carrot to aim for when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to opening those borders up.
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  Speaker 3: I look would very much like to see that. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we're working with the two dates that have been defined
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  Speaker 3: in terms of the impact on our workforce, vaxed and unvaxed.
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  Speaker 3: The missing date is when do we all get to
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  Speaker 3: get normalized domestic travel again.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce, the CEO of Hospitality here in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory, really appreciate your time this morning and we
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  Speaker 1: will no doubt talk to you again very soon.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, thank you you too.