Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Master Builders' Dave Malone says the Federal budget shows the Government realises growth is the most important thing for Australia right now

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Master Builders' Dave Malone says the Federal budget shows the Government realises growth is the most important thing for Australia right now · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But joining me on the line to really help us
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: break down this budget and what it means for industries
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory. It's Dave Malone, the chief executive
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: of Master Builders. Good morning to you, Dave.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Katie. I'm coming from an airport
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  Speaker 2: round so I apologize if you get in your background.
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  Speaker 1: That's all good, Dave. What was your reaction to the budget?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what I took away from the budget was that
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  Speaker 2: the federal government has decided that growth is the most
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  Speaker 2: important thing for Australia right now, and that the best
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  Speaker 2: way of getting growth over the medium term is to
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  Speaker 2: invest in infrastructure. And the other thing I took away
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  Speaker 2: was we've been waiting for a long time for people
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  Speaker 2: to realize the potential of the North and I thought
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  Speaker 2: in the budget last night that we saw that the
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  Speaker 2: Federal governor finally realized that investing in infrastructure in the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: North will deliver a great dividend for all of Australia.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there does certainly seem to be more of a
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  Speaker 1: focus on regional Australia. And I said that to the
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  Speaker 1: Finance Minister this morning, Simon Birmingham, and he said as
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  Speaker 1: much that to make sure we're growing the regions. From
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  Speaker 1: the construction perspective, Dave, is there going to be you know,
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  Speaker 1: are we going to see that on flow of work
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  Speaker 1: for your sector?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we will. There's a couple of cavias
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  Speaker 2: that I've put in place. You know, I've been around
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  Speaker 2: a long time and I know there's a big difference
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  Speaker 2: between any announcements and when cash starts to flow, but
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  Speaker 2: you know when we're heading towards an election as well,
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  Speaker 2: so there's that issue to sit in the background. But
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  Speaker 2: this is really medium term work for our industry. It's
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  Speaker 2: not today or tomorrow. These projects need to go through
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  Speaker 2: the entire process of being designed and approved, taken to
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  Speaker 2: market and then you know, people with machinery start work
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  Speaker 2: on site. So this has really worked for the medium term.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's fantastic quite frankly, and really positive for
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  Speaker 2: construction businesses right across the top end and for that matter,
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  Speaker 2: the whole of North Australia. So overall, I think, yes,
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  Speaker 2: our people are really going to benefit from this, but
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  Speaker 2: we won't see it today or tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's still going to be a while away by
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  Speaker 1: the look of things, Dave. I guess the other concern
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  Speaker 1: always is when we talk about federal money being spent,
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  Speaker 1: making sure that contracts go to locals.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and one of the things that's been missed in
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  Speaker 2: this budget, in a small announcement that came out I
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  Speaker 2: think yesterday morning, was that the federal government's adopting new
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: procume with arrangements to encourage more SMEs to be involved
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  Speaker 2: in their procurement right across the board, something that we
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  Speaker 2: first negotiated with Defense, as you'd know, you know, three
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  Speaker 2: or four years ago, which saw so many local people
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  Speaker 2: starting to get work. So I've really got my fingers crossed. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: again meds the cavit of the election, but it seems
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  Speaker 2: to me that they understand that they can use the
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  Speaker 2: capacity in North Australia to build these projects. And even
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  Speaker 2: though that sounds logical to you and I am to
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  Speaker 2: everybody who's listening, it's actually a major step for our
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: federal government to see it that way.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So obviously that is something I'm sure that
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  Speaker 1: quite a few people miss yesterday. So just sort of
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  Speaker 1: break that down for us, Dave. So what it means
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  Speaker 1: that those SMEs that there was an announcement that realistically
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to some of these projects, they do
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  Speaker 1: need to go local.
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  Speaker 2: So what they're what the federal government's saying, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: the press releases are just press releases, but what they're
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  Speaker 2: really saying to everybody is they're putting pressure on the
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: federal bureaucracy to look at the capability and capacity regionally
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: and locally and to design their procurement around that capacity
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: and capability, which is what we've been doing now for
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: a few years in defense. But it will spread much broader,
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  Speaker 2: and we assume that those same conditions will go with
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  Speaker 2: the cash as the federal government passes that cash through
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  Speaker 2: to state governments as well. So you know, we'll wait
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to see how it all rolls out, but you'd have
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  Speaker 2: to say it's a giant tick up front today after
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  Speaker 2: the budget.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Dave Malone from Master Builders, it is always good
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  Speaker 1: to catch up with you. We know you're about to
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  Speaker 1: get on a flight, so we appreciate it on this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Mate. Thank you, Thank you, Cody, and have a good
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  Speaker 2: day than you two