Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, the budget obviously handed down overnight, as we've heard
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: throughout the morning, and there are a number of incentives
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: aimed at keeping business moving. Joining me on the line
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: is the head of the Chamber of Commerce here in
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the territory, Greg Island. Good morning, Hi Katie. Now, Greg,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: can you talk us through some of the incentives or
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: some of the highlights for the business community announced overnight.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, just seeing the headlines on the news this
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: morning with Jobs Blitz, it certainly has a very strong
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: focus on small to medium business and creating the investment
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: needed to drive job creation. So I think that's a
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: very positive sign for business, particularly around the expense right
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: off capability and the carried back losses will really really
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: improve cashflow for business, I think yeah.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: And we have heard throughout the morning obviously that this
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: has been all about creating jobs and that the federal
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: government really sees the business community as helping to drive
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: us out of the economic crisis which COVID has created.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Do you think the incentives that have been announced go
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: far enough in terms of giving business that kind of confidence?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Look, it will certainly help, and I guess with business
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: making those investments, the risk is being carried by business
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and divested a bit from government. We all know that
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: cash is king, so it's certainly going to make that
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: capability of investing more palatable for business, and particularly employing
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: younger Territorians into opportunities, particularly straight from school and then
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: reducing the unemployment rate over a period of time is
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: a positive thing.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in terms of that job maker hiring credit, so
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: really employing people aged between sixteen and thirty five. What
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: was your reaction to that, Look, I.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Think that's a positive thing. Again, we really do need
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: a skills based so we need to be investing in
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: people and their skills. We do need to be cautious
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that we don't see any displacement of older workers and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: making sure that we continue to improve the skill base
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: of the territory because we're going to need it for
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: some of these larger opportunities that are on the horizon.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Do you think that we'll see some businesses turning down
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: older employees though in favor of younger ones.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Look, I would certainly hope not. I think there needs
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to be a balance in all of this. We need
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to be encouraging school leaders to get into the workforce
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and making sure that everyone's participating as much as possible,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and that really does include older territorians who, as we
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: all know, I've got a lot broader range of experience
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: and skills that can offer business increase value.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: So, Greg, I suppose on a whole, from a business
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: perspective and in your role at the Chamber, did you
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: feel as though it was a positive budget for business?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Look, I thought from an employment givision was from a
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: longer term investment perspective, I think there's a few gaps
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: we're seeing.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: We certainly welcome the additional money on the Carpentia Highway
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: one hundred and ninety million dollars, but I think we
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: could have done with ten times and amount to really
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: get into some of the other roads that will open
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: up economic opportunities for regional territories.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So I spoke you know again, I guess it was.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: It was one of those budgets unlike what we've sort
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: of seen before, where there wasn't a huge focus on
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the different regions, or you know, we weren't sort of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: watching it in the way that we usually would, waiting
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to hear exactly what's announced for the Northern territory. It
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: was more a matter of sort of these larger scale
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: announcements aimed at again keeping people employed and were trying
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to create those job opportunities, wasn't it.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the devil was in the details we all know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: and we really don't understand all of the detail. There's
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: a little bit of cloudiness around some of those things. Certainly,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: the commentary around the GST number is appears to be
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: more than the forecast from our local government, so potentially
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: that's a strong positive. But let's again hope that the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: forecast information provided is accurate. Well.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Greg Island from the Chamber of Commerce a CEO. Always
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: good to catch up with you mate. We really appreciate
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: your time this morning.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: No problem at all came, thank you.