Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Moorish Owner Gertrude Knight is ready for the NT's Covid vaccine to lift tonight to help repair the hospitality industry

Transcript

Moorish Owner Gertrude Knight is ready for the NT's Covid vaccine to lift tonight to help repair the hospitality industry · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now the Northern Territories work of vaccine mandate is set
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to come to an end. Now we know that the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister, Natasha Files made that announcement at a press
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: conference last week, saying that the mandate, along with the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Public Health Emergency will indeed finish on June sixteenth, So
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: at midnight tonight, as of midnight tonight, that mandate lifts.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So what does it mean for local businesses? Well, joining
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: me on the line is the owner of the much
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: loved Moorish Good morning to you, Gertrude.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and thank you for that lovely intro.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: That's all right, well, I love going there, love the food.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Now tell us how has this mandate impacted you guys
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: at Moorish.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think mainly we've been really lucky. All
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: of our staff have followed all of the directions. But
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I think for me personally as a business owner, as
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: a work colleague, I didn't feel comfortable at all asking
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: people to go and get back to date. But I
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: didn't feel comfortable having those conversations and imposing on people,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: especially some of them went very keen on it. So
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: I really did take a lot of imploring and you know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: good relations to get them across the line.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's a.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Hard conversation to have really, as you know, as a
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: boss and somebody who owns a business. It's certainly not
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: a conversation that you would have anticipated that you were
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: really ever going to have.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: To have pre COVID.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, like it's you know, for me, it's very very personal.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: People's choices about their bodies, their health, you know, is
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: not my area. It's not for me to judge. It's
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: money for me to choose for myself. What's there.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So, as of midnight tonight, obviously that regulation or that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: rule mandate is lifted.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Is that a good news thing for you guys?
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, I think you know, even if we don't
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: get any new staff, and hopefully we do get a
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: few people will putting your hands up, then I think
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: it's good for everyone. It's just so I think for
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: everyone's head space, it's good to know that we're moving
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: closer to moving away from what has been a really
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: chaotic period. You know, over the last couple of years
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: have been really stressful for all different sorts of people
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: for you know, a mirrorad of reason. But look, I
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: think ultimately maybe in the consumer's mind. It makes everyone
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: think that everything is back to normal, everything is fine,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: But ultimately, for our industry it's not at all. You know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: we're having a fantastic dry season this year, but we're
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: ridiculously short staffed. And I know people I run into
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: will say, oh, how are you going? I know this
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: summit that you know, stuff's so short, there's no you know,
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  Speaker 2: it must be really hard, and it is absolutely. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's scary at times, and it's really difficult because you know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: you put more pressure on the staff that you have
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: and then you've got the fear of losing them. But
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  Speaker 2: I think I hope that people in Darwin do realize
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the pressure that people are under when they are short stuffed.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I know we know it, but when we go out
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: for dinner, be great if if perhaps people are a
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: little bit more understanding that everyone's trying their best, but
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: they're really stretched.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: So gotra talk us through that.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: You know, when it comes to that staff shortage right now,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: how tough is it for a lot of our old
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and territory businesses.
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  Speaker 2: Oh look, I think it's huge And I think for me,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: probably I put a little bit more pressure And I
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  Speaker 2: hope other people do as well. In that I'm really
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: proud of Darwin. I'm so pleased to see so many
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: tourists up here and the feedback that I'm getting from
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: people is brilliant. I think it's really good for our
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: community spirit to hear from visitors about how great our
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: town is, you know, so that we can have civic pride.
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  Speaker 2: But my fear is, because this staff shortages are so
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: extreme and we're under so much pressure, my fear is
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: that people will come and not be able to dine
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: out and then have a bad impression of Darwin. I mean,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: I've done it before. We've gone without a reservation. We've
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: been chomping around Melbourne in the rain with two small children,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: in so desperately and being shut away from every single
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: door we went to, and it was really disheartening and
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  Speaker 2: it left you in Melbourn's my hometown. It left a
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  Speaker 2: really bad taste in my mouth of that holiday because
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  Speaker 2: we just couldn't get a seat in a restaurant. We
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: just wanted to have a lovely meal with our family
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  Speaker 2: and we just couldn't get a seat. So I don't
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  Speaker 2: want people to go through that and do and I
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: want people to have great experiences. So we're trying our
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: best not to turn people away, but because of the
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  Speaker 2: staff shortages that we face, I think inevitably I have
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: to start cutting numbers because I can't keep doing this
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: to my staff. It's not fair on them. They're doing
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: a fantastic job and I'm so grateful and I love
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  Speaker 2: working with them, but I think I will lose them
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: if we keep putting this amount of pressure on them.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: So, Gurtro, what do you think sort of needs to happen?
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  Speaker 1: Because I know that there's you know, we kind of
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: hear that there's work being done to try and entice
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: people from Intero State. We know that there's work being
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: done to sort of, you know, try to grow our
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: own to some degree as well. But some of those
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: different things sound like they're pretty you know, a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a distance away or a bit of a you know,
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  Speaker 1: still a bit of a weight. What kind of things
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  Speaker 1: do you think could be happening in this space?
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, I think you know, given how low the
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: unemployment rate is in Australian we know that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's been low for a very very long time. I
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: think most able people are working. I don't think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I really, I don't think there's a huge pool of
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: people that are able to step out of unemployment into
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  Speaker 2: jobs immediately. There will be a few, of course, but
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's there's not the numbers that we need.
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  Speaker 2: So I think we really do need to look overseas,
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  Speaker 2: and I know that the backpacker industry and you know,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: just people holidaying and touring and traveling and working has
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: been great for the whole of Australia and I think
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  Speaker 2: perhaps what we need to do is start working out
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  Speaker 2: incentives to bring those people back into the country and
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: to reassure them that we will look after them and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: that we really want them to be here. Yeah, around
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  Speaker 2: the world as far as I know, like there are
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: staff shortages everywhere, so it's a really competitive market. So
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: sitting incentives, you know, whether it's air flights as South
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Australia has done, and then signing people up saying you know,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you have to stay for X amount of time and
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: then you know we will reimburse you for your flight.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Anything like that would be really welcome to get people
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  Speaker 2: up here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon, you're right, you know, it has reached
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: that point where we do need to try and incentivize
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: things to some degree, and I thought that was interesting
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: actually what South Australia had done. And I guess we
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: don't want to leave it too long either. You don't
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: want to sort of get left behind.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Well, look, I think now is the time we've through COVID,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: We've had a lot of visitation from down South. As
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: I said to you, like, the feedback has been phenomenal.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: We've all been really proud of our town. Through COVID,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: everyone came together. But to get that reinforced view from
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: outsiders about how fantastic Darwin is, what a great place
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: that is, and how great you know it is outside
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: of town as well, we really want to keep that
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: momentum going. So we need to make sure that this
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: drive season is another phenomenal one for us, that people
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: go back and tell their friends and family to come
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: to Darwin. But in order to get that all across
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  Speaker 2: the line, we really need people now, yeah, wanting jobs. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: So it's kind of urgent.
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  Speaker 3: It is, well, and it sounds that way, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Honestly, every business person or every person that I speak
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to who owns a business, that is what they are
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  Speaker 1: saying at the moment that they've got serious issues with
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: staff shortages, and I know that it's the case in
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: other states and other locations as well, But you know,
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  Speaker 1: I hate the idea of hard working territories like yourself
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and and everybody that works there and other businesses around
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  Speaker 1: the place. You know, you've got all these tourists sort
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: of knocking on our door wanting to be here and
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  Speaker 1: not having you know, the staffing levels that you need
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to be able to make sure that you can you
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: can welcome them all.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, And I get you know, where all
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: human beings, everyone's you know, got things going on in
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: their lives, and that little extra bit of aggressiveness from
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: customers because they've waited a little bit longer that really
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: impacts strongly on people. Yeah, and yeah, I think, you
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: know kind I think what we can do as a
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: community is certainly be kinder. Maybe if people want to
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: take a second job through life season and come and
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: work in hospitality, that would be really really welcome as well. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think anything we can do as a community to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: come together to make it easier for people who are
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: trying to do their best would be great.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, spot on, Will Gertrude. It is always lovely to
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: speak to you. I appreciate your time today and and
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I hope that yeah, that you have a very busy
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: dry and that you're able to find well, that you've
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: got enough staff as well to be able to deal
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: with it.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Fingers crossed. We live in Hope.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Thank good on you, Gertrude. Thank you,