Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford about the news red zone travellers cannot go outside urban areas for 14 days after arrival

Transcript

Katie spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford about the news red zone travellers cannot go outside urban areas for 14 days after arrival · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Joining us live on the line is Daniel Rochford, the
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  Speaker 1: CEO of Tourism in Central Australia. Good morning to you, Daniel, Good.
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  Speaker 2: Morning Kadian, Good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel. We thought yesterday that we had that clarity that
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  Speaker 1: was going to be needed, or that is most certainly
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  Speaker 1: needed when it comes to our borders and traveling around
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  Speaker 1: the place, whether you're talking about tourists traveling into the
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  Speaker 1: territory or territory and is traveling away. But it seems
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  Speaker 1: as though it's not actually good news for everybody. Daniel.
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  Speaker 1: Can you talk us through your concerns.
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  Speaker 2: Oh look, Katie, I'm just devastated. I'm angry and I'm
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  Speaker 2: heartbroken for the tourism operators and small business operators right
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  Speaker 2: across the Northern Territory. The decision by the Chief Health
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  Speaker 2: Officer and the Government yesterday has essentially slam shut the
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  Speaker 2: doors to tourism in the Northern Territory and we're essentially
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  Speaker 2: as a sector, been thrown under the bus. Fully, we're
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  Speaker 2: under this polis. We're not going to see any visitors
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  Speaker 2: come to the Northern Territory until such time those directives
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  Speaker 2: are wound back, and that's going to have a huge
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  Speaker 2: detrimental impact across not just Central Australia, but the wider
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  Speaker 2: and northern territory.
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  Speaker 1: And Daniel, for a lot of people listening this morning,
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  Speaker 1: they'll be hearing this for the first time and thinking,
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  Speaker 1: what do you mean. It means that we're going to
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  Speaker 1: be able to travel into state and then come back.
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  Speaker 1: But the devil's in the detail here, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, very much. So for instance, you can only fly
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  Speaker 2: into Alice Springs, Catherine or Darwen. So for instance, you
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  Speaker 2: cannot fly in into Yulara Airport, and I guess the
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  Speaker 2: same would be the case we'd go for those coming
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  Speaker 2: in who live outside of the urban areas. You must
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  Speaker 2: essentially stay within the urban areas within fourteenth day. So
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  Speaker 2: if you live in tennin Creek for instance, and go
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  Speaker 2: away for Christmas, you must then come back to Alice
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  Speaker 2: Springs or Catherine or Darwin stay for teen days before
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  Speaker 2: going back to ten and Creek. So eventually, effectively, for
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  Speaker 2: those communities and many Bush communities and people living on stations,
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  Speaker 2: Christmas just got cancers.
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  Speaker 1: So Daniel, realistically then as well, when you talk about tourists,
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  Speaker 1: if you're traveling to the northern Territory and you then
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  Speaker 1: want to go to Litchfield, to Kakadoo to ull LaRue.
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  Speaker 1: Does this mean that tourists are not going to be
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  Speaker 1: able to do that as well?
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  Speaker 2: No, you can, but you can't do it until fourteen
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  Speaker 2: until you stay in an urban area for fourteen days.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Lets you listeners digest.
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  Speaker 1: That for yeah, So just repeat that for us, because,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, a lot of people are going to
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  Speaker 1: be hearing this for the first time this morning and
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  Speaker 1: are going to be absolutely surprised upon what they're hearing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So look, if you come to the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: and want to go to many of our iconic gems
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  Speaker 2: outside of the urban parts of the Northern Territory, you
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  Speaker 2: have to stay within those urban areas for fourteen days
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  Speaker 2: before going out. So if someone wants to go from
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  Speaker 2: Brisbane to Ularu via Ola Springs, they have to come
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  Speaker 2: and stay in our springs for fourteen days. So what
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  Speaker 2: that means is we will have no visitation.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, Daniel, I mean it's going to be devastating for
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  Speaker 1: you guys, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, as we talked about earlier in the week,
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  Speaker 2: you know, this is the thing that's heartbreaking about it.
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  Speaker 2: You know, our industry was very supportive and congratulatory of
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  Speaker 2: the governments in their roadmap forward and opening up. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, for the first time in what feels like eternity,
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  Speaker 2: we had a light at the end of the tunnel
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  Speaker 2: and some green buds of optimism. And the rug's just
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  Speaker 2: been taken out from Argan Duris with this decision, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, I'm really deeply concerned about the mental health
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  Speaker 2: and stability of many of our operators.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel, what is your message for the government this morning,
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  Speaker 1: you know, upon this decision, because I know that they're
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  Speaker 1: obviously thinking about ensuring that our indigenous communities and remote
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  Speaker 1: communities stay safe and that until everybody is vaccinated, But
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  Speaker 1: what is your message to the government today.
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  Speaker 2: Cool heads need to prevail and we need to sit
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  Speaker 2: down and look through this and work through policies that
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  Speaker 2: obviously keep our vulnerable communities safe, but also doesn't throw
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  Speaker 2: our major one of our major economic drivers for our
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  Speaker 2: economy under the bus. You know, sensible approaches like putting
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  Speaker 2: in place abobble around you are, or looking at sort
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  Speaker 2: of minor bubbles around Alice Springs. All of these are
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  Speaker 2: effective ways, but you know. I'm sure through the health
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  Speaker 2: professionals we can look at some sensible, common sense approach
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  Speaker 2: that meets a common ground here.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Rochford, the CEO of Tourism in Central Australia, I
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. There's no doubt that
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  Speaker 1: this will be something that we discuss on the week
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  Speaker 1: that was this morning after ten o'clock. Thanks Codie, Thank you.