Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland says he’s hoping the Federal budget delivers more investment and better road connectivity for the NT

Transcript

Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland says he’s hoping the Federal budget delivers more investment and better road connectivity for the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to talk further about
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the budget tonight and what we will hopefully expect for
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory is the Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Greg.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you today?
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Not too bad? Well, I'm half excited about the budget, Greg,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: but I don't after rest of Australia is some people
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: find it boring, but I think we're all hoping that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: there's going to be a bit in there for the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's certainly going to be an interesting budget Katy,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: with a new government coming in and having to deal
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: with some challenges and also having to put this interim
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: situation in place. And it's also interesting to hear a
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: bit of a focus on some social aspects rather than
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: just pure economics, which is a little different this time
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: for this type of event. So yeah, it's going to
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: be must see viewing tonight.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: It will be. Now, Greg, does there need to be
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: investment in the Northern Territory when it comes to workforce
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: shortages or what are you hoping to say?
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  Speaker 2: Look, it certainly does and a number of the announcements
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  Speaker 2: that we've seen already Cati the support for middle arm
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  Speaker 2: which is something that we absolutely support, as well as
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: the roads are going to be connecting remote communities together,
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  Speaker 2: which is absolutely vital for the territory. Are going to
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  Speaker 2: do exactly that. We exacerbate the workforce issue. So over
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: a period of time we're going to be needing quite
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  Speaker 2: a substantial numbers of workers into the territory and we're
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: hearing something like thirty five thousand over the next decade.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Wow, where are we going to find those workers?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the great conundrum I think, and Territory government
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: is certainly looking to assist business in supporting that program.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: One of the couple of key areas for the Chamber,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Katie are the continuation of the subsidized apprenticeship. So we've
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  Speaker 2: seen that during the previous government supporting additional funding for
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: employers to support apprentices has seeing that the numbers grow
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  Speaker 2: up to about four thousand here in the territory. That
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: funding has terminated and we've seen those numbers were drawn
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: back again. So we'd like to see that being stated
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: and have some more apprentices in growing our own labor
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: portion of the future. Well, but migration is certainly key
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that the Federal government, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't know whether it's something that they're going to
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  Speaker 1: be looking at in this budget, but do you think
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: that there needs to be more incentives for people to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: move to more regional parts of Australia.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a difficult one, Katie. Historically we've always had
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  Speaker 2: a problem recruiting down south and a lot of that
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  Speaker 2: used to do with the climate. There's not too much
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: that the federal government can do about that in terms
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  Speaker 2: of being a tropical environment, so we do have to
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: attract the right people and sometimes our few and far between.
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  Speaker 2: The reality is that people coming from our north are
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: much more accustomed to the weather that we have here
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  Speaker 2: and it's probably a more a lot it will fit
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  Speaker 2: for us to be engaging with them. So migration, as
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  Speaker 2: I just mentioned, is certainly going to be the key.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Now do you think that there needs to be some
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: measures to wease the cost of living pressures that we're
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: experiencing as well.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Look, it's going to be the way of the future.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I don't think we're going to see too many prices
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: go backwards, but we certainly want that information rate to
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: remain as reasonably small as possible. So there's some key areas.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: You know, fuel has been one of those things that's
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: been talked about quite extensively. It's an input cost of business, absolutely,
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  Speaker 2: but it's pretty much a fixed cost. I mean, everyone
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  Speaker 2: has to get in their car and drive to work
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: or do their deliveries or whatever the situation is, and
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  Speaker 2: it's one of those must have areas. The Chamber is
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: vocal about it, but we're also a little bit wary
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: of people exposing their profit margins and so forth. So
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: we think that as we grow the economy, more increased
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  Speaker 2: competition will be the solution to some of those challenges.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: And that's you know, I guess that's the big thing,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: is growing the economy, growing the population, and a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people are pretty skeptical about that given some of
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  Speaker 1: the other social issues that we've got.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's another opportunity for the federal government to
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  Speaker 2: support the Northern territory and some funding for reducing crime
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  Speaker 2: and providing some other mechanisms for things for people to
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: do to distract them, I guess from some of any
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  Speaker 2: social behavior would also be certainly welcome.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, there any areas in particular that you reckon that
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  Speaker 1: there does need to be sort of some focus on
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: in this space.
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  Speaker 2: It's a particular problem for the community both up and
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  Speaker 2: down the track. I mean, we've seen what's happening in
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Central Australia and the Berkley it's just very ordinary. Some
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  Speaker 2: of those diversionary programs are going to be the key.
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  Speaker 2: Simply locking people up has proven to be problematic. So
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  Speaker 2: if any funding that's available to support those program I
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: think would be greatly appreciated by the community. But at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the day, from a chamber of perspective,
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  Speaker 2: we are focused on the economic growth and making sure
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  Speaker 2: that we're a prosperous place to live into the future.
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  Speaker 1: And on that note, you know, are you hoping as well,
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  Speaker 1: because something that's been raised with us on quite a
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  Speaker 1: number of occasions in recent weeks is not only the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: visa application process, but also you know, people that are
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: already here that are wanting to stay, not being able
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to actually stay and being deported. Are you hoping that
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  Speaker 1: we're going to see some movement when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: the visa processes.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's absolutely essential. We've been talking with both
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  Speaker 2: territory and federal governments about exactly that the complexity in
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  Speaker 2: going through this visa process is just obscene for one
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  Speaker 2: of a better word, the timeframes associated with it. We're
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: seeing people take up to three years to get foreign
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: worker visas. It's just crazy. And then it's costing the
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  Speaker 2: applicant and the business up to ten or fifteen thousand
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: dollars to process. So there's opportunity there to reduce complexity,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: reduce the time frame, and reduce the costs and then
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  Speaker 2: be a win for all of us.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So, Greg, if you had a couple of take homes,
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  Speaker 1: you know, for the federal budget tonight, what would they be?
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: What are the things that are essential for us in
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the territory that you're hoping to see out of tonight's budget.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: So for us, it starts with certainty and the middle
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  Speaker 2: arm funding is provide certainty for local businesses to look
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: at investing in themselves, so that private investment is absolutely
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: critical for the economy, as is the investment in by
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: those project proponents. So certainty is probably high on the list.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I think closing the gap will come from connectivity, so
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: those roads are super critical. The funding that's there at
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  Speaker 2: the moment is not going to fix all of the issues,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: but it's certainly a good start. So those are probably
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: the two key things that we like to see from
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: what we've heard so far. Migration and Panish ships also
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: high on the list.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Well, Greg Ireland, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: always good to catch up with you. Let's wait and
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: see exactly what gets handed down in that budget tonight.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Thanks Katie, thank you to the good stuff. Good on you, Greg,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you