Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford

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Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And joining us on the line right now is Tourism
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning to you, Daniel, Good.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, how are you guys going in Central Australia
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: at the moment when we talk about the current situation
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: for the tourism industry.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you and I have talked over the last twelve
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: months about how bad the industry has been facing the
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: challenges that we have throughout the pandemic. Twenty twenty was horrendous,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: but twenty twenty one is shaping up to be disastrous
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: and we have industry on their knees here in Central
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  Speaker 2: Australia and unfortunately it's getting going from bad to worse.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Daniel, what can we do here? Like what is going
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to happen for our tourism operators. We caught up with
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  Speaker 1: Glenn Henley yesterday and he seemed exasperated. I know that
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  Speaker 1: you'd be feeling exactly the same.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, And I'm getting call after call from the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: tourism operators who are at on the needs Katie, and
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: we're seeing the situation getting worse. So, for instance, in
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the last two and a half weeks. Normally we would
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: see fifteen flights a week come into the Ularu Airport.
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  Speaker 2: We've only just seen two two in two and a
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  Speaker 2: half weeks, So that just gives you an understanding of
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: how our industry has ground to a halt. And as
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  Speaker 2: I've said to you on many occasions, we fully support
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: our government keeping us safe and as an industry, we
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: one hundred percent commit to the work that our governments
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  Speaker 2: are doing. But there are downstream consequences of that and
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  Speaker 2: that's being faced by our industry and we don't want
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  Speaker 2: to come across as you know, that we're winging or whatever.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: The situation is dire for our sector, and we have
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  Speaker 2: been talking to governments, both the NTG and the federal
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  Speaker 2: government to ensure that there's some form of support, and
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: you know, we believe that it's probably tied. There's some
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: form of hardship support and some form of job save
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: or job keeper or whatever you want to keep. We
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  Speaker 2: put a lot of effort out here to try and
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  Speaker 2: get as many employees moving to Central Australia at the
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  Speaker 2: start of the year, and unfortunately many of our operators
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  Speaker 2: are struggling to keep them on with no tourists walking
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: through the door, Daniel.
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  Speaker 1: When you talk about the fact that you know, usually
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  Speaker 1: there'd be fifteen flights, that's gone down to two in
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  Speaker 1: two and a half weeks, I mean, how are operators
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  Speaker 1: able to even continue to operate when you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: such low numbers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've seen businesses just especially in the last week,
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  Speaker 2: just making the decision to give up and either hibernate
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: or close. There are operators that are pivoting to just
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: take on paid work outside of their business just to
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  Speaker 2: keep food on their table. And that's how dire it
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: is getting, Katie, And we can't urge more strongly to
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: government that we need support at this time, and we
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: need it now. We can quickly mobilize to support the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: wider community against the delta variant of the pandemic, but
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: we also need to work quickly to support operators who
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: are the downstream consequences of keeping us safe.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, we know that a couple of weeks ago
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  Speaker 1: the government flagged that there'd be another round of tourism vouchers,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: but a lot of that detail is still sort of well,
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  Speaker 1: it remains outstanding from your perspective, Is there any time
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: here to leave our tourism operators and our tourism workers lingering.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Look, we're certainly very keen to get clarity on the
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: voucher program and were certainly very happy to see that
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  Speaker 2: another round of vouchers is in the budget. We as
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: you know, you and I have talked about many times. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: this program has only seen a small amount of money
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  Speaker 2: come to Central Australia, and I think after the three
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  Speaker 2: rounds of the vouchers it's almost twenty seven million dollars
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  Speaker 2: that have gone into the top end versus just three
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  Speaker 2: into Central Australia. So you know, there is a need
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  Speaker 2: to revisit and look at how we can get more
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  Speaker 2: equity in this program. And you know that I hope
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: the government's hearing that from us in Central Australia. But
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  Speaker 2: we certainly need governments to act quickly on this because
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  Speaker 2: we need help now.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel, if you could get one message across to you know,
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  Speaker 1: to both tiers of government right now, what would it be.
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  Speaker 2: Look, the message we've been saying is get your heads together,
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  Speaker 2: let's get some form of support package. We fully support
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  Speaker 2: the work you're all doing to keep us safe, and
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  Speaker 2: you know we are very much appreciated, but at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, the tourism and hospitality sectors is
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  Speaker 2: the industry that has been smashed as a result of
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  Speaker 2: that good work. So we need help, Katie, and we
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  Speaker 2: need it now.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, Daniel Rochford, I really appreciate your time this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and mate, I feel for you guys, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: feel for all of our operators, but particularly those who
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  Speaker 1: work in tourism. It is really tough going. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: when you look at those numbers, those flights for me
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  Speaker 1: really make it kind of really clear just how tough
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  Speaker 1: it is for our tourism operators in Central Australia, it's
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  Speaker 1: you know, it is such tough going at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, and I really appreciate that, Katie, and you've
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  Speaker 2: been a great supporter of Central Australian tourism as well.
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  Speaker 2: And look, we'll get through this. You know, it is
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: a rollercoaster ride. But you know, unfortunately twenty twenty was bad,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: but unfortunately twenty twenty business is far worse. And I
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: guess we're doing our best to add on behalf of
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: our industry to get governments for that support that we need.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel, thank you so much for your time this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and we will talk to you again very soon.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,