Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford about the much needed funding relief just received

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Katie spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford about the much needed funding relief just received · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is just after nine point thirty.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Now we know that the Northern Territory government announced yesterday
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: that they've reached agreement with the Commonwealth to launch a
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: second round of Tourism Survival Fund and Visitation Reliance Support Program,
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: with payments under both these programs set to triple. Now,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: somebody who has really been spearheading the calls to try
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: and help our tourism sector and try to see some
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: change in this space is Daniel Rochford, who's the CEO
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: of Tourism Central Australia.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Daniel, Good.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Daniel, you and I have spoken on so many occasions
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: about the need for additional support for tourism operators, particularly
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: in Central Australia.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Does this announcement go far enough?
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Look, it's great support Katie, and thank you for your
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: advocacy with us on this. It has been something we've
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: been talking about for many weeks and it's great to
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: see both the Territory and Federal getting their heads together
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: to get behind and back our industry. Many of our operators,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: as you know, are on their knees and they were
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: looking forward to a very bleak Christmas, and this support
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: is very meaningful and very important.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Daniel, Does it apply just to those in Central Australia?
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Is it those up in the top end as well?
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I know that you're obviously based in Central Australia, but
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: is it territory wide?
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it's across the whole impact of the COVID
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: pandemic has hit us right across the territory. And you know,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: obviously we've been very much advocating for our members here
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: in Central Australia, but I know the same impact is
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: being filled up in the top end. So look this
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: funding which in survival for those who were successful in
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: the first round, we'll see up funds of up to
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: anywhere between thirty and ninety thousand dollars being injected into
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: the businesses to get them through to the other side.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: As you know, this is our low season right across
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: the territory, and so that you know our operators here
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: in Central Australia they're seeing almost no revenue. So this
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: is as meaningful as it gets.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Will it mean that some of those businesses who you
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: and I have spoken about before, who were looking down
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the barrel of having to know to really either go
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: into sort of shut down mode or close over Christmas
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: or lay staff off. Will it mean that they are
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: able to keep going?
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Indeed, and that's the feedback that I got. In fact,
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the message were sent out to all those successful in
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Round one collectively by our email on last Friday, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: I was actually a meeting with six operators when they
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: received the email, and to see the relief on their faces,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: it was absolutely amazing. And you know, if I wish
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: I could have bottled that moment. It was so critical
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: for these guys to get enough funds to see them through,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: just to pay bills, to pay their payroll, to get
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: them through to hopefully what will be a bumper twenty
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: twenty two.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Finally some good news for them. Hame.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Hey, Yeah, it's been a long time going, hasn't it.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I've been talking about this for a long time, Katie.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: But look, we're very appreciative of the the board of
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: both of our governments. You know, we've certainly been advocating
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: for this for long and hard for some time, and
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: it's great our government's listen and we really appreciate that support.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now let's talk through some of some of those
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: tourist numbers. I know that we really got that clarification
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: or that that certainty. I suppose that we all wanted
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: around December twenty still being the date that we are
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: going to open up. Yesterday the Health Minister had spoken
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to us on the show and she said that yes,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: that is still the roadmap forward despite their being Omicron.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: The other variant flow around in different states around Australia
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: at the moment and indeed other parts of the world.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: But it is looking as though we are forging ahead
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: with that December twenty date in terms of those vaccinated.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Assie is being able to travel to the territory. Daniel,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: what do you think that's going to mean for Central Australia.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Well, we're already seeing some impact of ready. I've talked
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: to you many times about the impact of aviation access
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: into Yolara Airport. We're currently just down to two flights,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: which compared to pre pandemic was about forty two flights.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: With this announcement, Jetstar has made an immediate announcement to
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: increase that two to seven flights, so that will have
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: an immediate impact for being able to get into the
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Yolara Airport. We're not hearing a huge upticking loookings for
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: December January Intoala Springs, but beyond that into March April.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: The feedback on GET is really positive. But I suspect
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: once people, you know, once it happens and people know
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: that they can come in quarantine free, I suspect we
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: will start to see visitation turn up in January and
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: early into February.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what we're all hoping for.
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  Speaker 2: I do know that it was reported by the ABC
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: online that several popular Central Australian tourism experiences and accommodation
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: options are going to be closed for renovations over the
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: summer period. Is that still the case.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly right. But look, I don't want to don't
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: take that as a message that we're closed for business.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: So for instance, King's Canyon Resort and Glen Helen closed
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: for renovations thirty million dollar worth of renovation. So they're
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: using this downturn at the moment as an opportunity to
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: renovate and really refocus those properties. But for instance, if
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: any of you listeners are wanting to go to Kings
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: you know we have King's Creek Station just at the
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: doorstep of Kings Canyon. Many of the hotels that Lara
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: is still open. And of course, as you know, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: we've got a chart of running from Darwin to u
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  Speaker 3: Laru in late January. Of course i'd give that a
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: bit of a plug. Bit is we're encouraging as many
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: territory in top end folks to come down on that
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: direct flight from Darwin to Lara, and there's still a
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: few vacancies for that, so that's another opportunity. And look
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: where were cently encouraging as many people from the top
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: end to come down to use those territory vouchers in
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: some shape or form to support the ufellow territorians, and
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: you know, all that support is greatly appreciated.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when you talk.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: About those territory tourism vouchers, has there been a big
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: uptake you know from territorians to actually use those in
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Central Australia.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Look, I of course sound very optimistic that we haven't
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: seen any change in the tapets. It's still anywhere between
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: ten to fifteen percent of the total vouch is being
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: redeemed in Central Australia, which is compared to eighty five
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: percent being redeemed in the top end. So I'm not
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: doing cartwheels down the tide mall. But all that fifteen
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: percent is still meaningful and still makes a big difference
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: to our operators. So we're always very appreciative of the support.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: But you know, in comparison to what's being redeemed in
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: the top end, we're certainly not seeing that that same uptake.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: So but what we're seeing is, you know, is appreciated.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Daniel, just back on to you know that funding that's
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: been announced, and I know that it's obviously a really
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: positive thing, Like how long do you think that that
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: is going to sort of tie businesses over for and
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: do you think that.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: You know that they are now going to.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Be able to or ready to sort of rebound hopefully
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: from early next year.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: That's my worry greatly, Katie, is that this funding that
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: that's receives will essentially deal with some of the immediate
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: bills and immediate challenges. Well, the thing that worries me
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: at the other side of this is these are two
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: tsunamis about to hit us and we hit the industry
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: here in Central Australia. The first one is having to
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: pay for the bills to restart your business, so things
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: like regios and insurances and the like and the ability
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: of where the businesses have the money to do that.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: And the second one, and probably the bigger of the two,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: is labor shortages. We need a thousand staff just in
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  Speaker 3: Central Australia alone by March next year. And the most
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: disheartening thing will be to see this huge tsunami of
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: demand but not having staff to meet the supply, and
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: that will be I think probably one of the biggest
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: challenges that we have to face, and we certainly are
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: working and calling on our governments to look at that
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  Speaker 3: issue very seriously. If we were a mine where there's
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: a thousand jobs coming to Central Australia, the red carpets
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: would be rolled out. And this is as low hanging
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: fruit as you get. We need a thousand staff just
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: to get back to operational capability. There's a great economic
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: development opportunity for Central Australia.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: So how soon do you reckon? You need those thousand
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: staff by March.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: April next year, So we're only talking the case of
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: a couple months. So we're certainly talking to around the
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Pacific Labor Mobility program and looking at some numbers there,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: and I know a number of our businesses have already
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: committed to that program. We need to look at doing
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: things differently. We need to pick up rocks and see
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: what's underneath them, so you know, for example, you know
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: we need to supercharge the Workstay Play program that was
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: announced last year. Fifteen hundred dollars unfortunately just does not
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: cut it in a competitive environment. When the government announced
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: that fifteen hundred dollars, two days later the Queensland government
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: announced for three pound dollars. We've got this great opportunity
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: with the Darwin two London flights. You know, if there's
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: a spare seat on that plane, you know we should
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: be looking at potentially the government underwriting that seat to
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: encourage people from the UK to come and work in
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: the Northern territory, whether it's in the Top End or
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: of Central Australia. We've got many leavers that we could
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: push and pull. But the thing I've noticed when I've
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: put my head down the rabbit hole is that we
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: need to do not one is the answer. We need
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: to do them all well.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I reckon there's some really good points.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: We're actually due to catch up with the Minister of
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: a Small Business, Paul Kirby, in a couple of moments
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: to talk fishing in one of his other portfolios, but
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I might ask him where we are at in terms of,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you know, those staff shortages and what planning I guess
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: is underway at the moment, because hopefully there is some
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: of that planning already happening.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, I'm not seeing huge amounts of it, and
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: you know, certain of some areas around the labor Pacific
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Labor program. But look, I feel like you know, I'm
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: not one of those single voices at the moment advocating
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: for this because you know, my members are saying that
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: they just are not getting applicants for jobs, and it
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: is going to be such a hotly contested market next year.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: We had the luxury of this year being an area
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: where people were migrating too because of COVID, But next
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: year we're going to be in a much more competitive
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: labor market.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Well, Daniel Rochford, we will talk more about that in
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: a few minutes time. Mate. I tell you what I
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: am looking forward to one day seeing you cartwheel down
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: down the Todd Mall.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: That sounds like it to be pretty fun.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Oh look, I'm sure we could sell tickets for that event.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Good on you. Mate, I always appreciate your time and
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: have you know.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: I think that you've done a lot in terms of
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: advocating over recent months as well on these issues when
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: it comes to tourism in Central Australia and to see
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: this money obviously now announced is a really good thing.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and thank you too, Katie. You've been a great
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: supporter of Central Australian tourism and we really appreciate your
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: empowerment and encouragement on this issue too.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: We're all in it together, hey, we're all territory and
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: so I think it's really important. Daniel Rochford, thanks so
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: much for your time. We'll talk to you again soon.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Thanks man, Thank you,