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Katie Woolf spoke with Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland on the NT Budget · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf thanks to Joyce Main Darwin
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  Speaker 1: Homes on Stuart Highwayberromote. It is just seventeen minutes away
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  Speaker 1: from ten o'clock. Quite a few of you getting in
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  Speaker 1: contact on the text line this morning around the budget.
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  Speaker 1: You're also able to send us an email if you'd
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  Speaker 1: like to three sixty at Mixed one oh four nine
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot au and our email is brought to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you by Kearra's nt. I've got a message here, it
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  Speaker 1: says Katie. At some point in time someone has to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: say enough is enough. There has to be a cutoff.
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  Speaker 1: Surely another one here. Twenty two thousand public servants with
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  Speaker 1: no pay rise for four years and inflation rising means
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  Speaker 1: salaries will go backwards. That's twenty two thousand guaranteed votes
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  Speaker 1: not going to labor next election. That's why I say
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  Speaker 1: I'm calling it early. I don't reckon there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be a four year pay freeze. I've got one here
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  Speaker 1: from Mark Intewee. It says, Hi, Katie has mister Gunner
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  Speaker 1: got a modern day Hans Christian Anderson as his speechwriter
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  Speaker 1: a main advisor. Sure sounds like to me after listening
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  Speaker 1: to his budget speech yesterday, says his Mark in twee
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  Speaker 1: and well, let's get a bit of a breakdown. I'm
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  Speaker 1: really keen to actually get a bit of a breakdown
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  Speaker 1: of the budget from some of our industry leaders to
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  Speaker 1: find out their reaction and the wins and losses for
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  Speaker 1: different industries and joining me on the line. First up
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  Speaker 1: this morning is the Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Island.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Greg.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you today?
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  Speaker 1: Very well? Greg? Firstly, what was your reaction to yesterday's budget?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we need to make no mistake. The
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  Speaker 2: budget is still in deficit and we are still going
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  Speaker 2: backwards at what we have seen is a lesser rated
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  Speaker 2: not some was originally forecast. So that is the upside
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  Speaker 2: of things that there is some more revenue coming in
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  Speaker 2: the door, but we are still on a down trajectory.
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  Speaker 1: What were the positives for your industry out of yesterday's budget.
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  Speaker 2: I think the majority of consistency in the infrastructure budget.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's critical that the territory builds infrastructure that
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  Speaker 2: enables business activities and encourages private investment. It's going to
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  Speaker 2: be those major projects that can be the real shift
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  Speaker 2: in the curve that we've got at the moment, So
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  Speaker 2: the one point six million dollars in infrastructure spend is
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  Speaker 2: important to maintain. We've also seen additional three hundred and
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  Speaker 2: eighty million in infrastructure over the forward estimate, so that's
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  Speaker 2: good spending. And probably importantly for the territory businesses, the
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  Speaker 2: additional one hundred and twenty million that's gone into the
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  Speaker 2: Local Jobs Fund over the next two years. That all
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  Speaker 2: be important enabling support revenue.
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  Speaker 1: And no doubt those tourism vouchers as well, and that
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  Speaker 1: spend into tourism is going to have a positive impact
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  Speaker 1: more broad ranging, I would hope.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll let Alex talk about some of those things,
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  Speaker 2: but I think it's very important that business gets to
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  Speaker 2: extend it's seasons, so we know they're going to be
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  Speaker 2: flat out during the dry but into that shoulder season
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  Speaker 2: and more importantly into the wet season. If the locals
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  Speaker 2: can be encouraged to support local business, and that's perfect.
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  Speaker 1: Greg, are there any areas where the budget fell short
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  Speaker 1: for your industry?
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  Speaker 2: We were always like more from territory budgets, but we
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  Speaker 2: have to really understand that. You know that spending does
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  Speaker 2: need to be rained in so from our perspective, we
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  Speaker 2: want to see very much a focus on increasing participation rates.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got to get more people off watching their
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  Speaker 2: TVs for the day and getting out and participating in
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  Speaker 2: the general workforce. We've really got to see more indigenous engagement.
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  Speaker 2: From an economic perspective, those are things that I think
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  Speaker 2: we need to focus more on.
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  Speaker 1: And did you feel that the budget really went anywhere
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  Speaker 1: near those issues.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think it was ever going to set the
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  Speaker 2: world alike, Katie, and some of those issues would be
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  Speaker 2: argued to be a federal concern, but ultimately we've got
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  Speaker 2: to get people in jobs and get our skill sets
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  Speaker 2: up to make sure that we've got the workforce for
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  Speaker 2: the future.
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  Speaker 1: So all in all, Greg Island, the Chamber of Commerce CEO,
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  Speaker 1: would you say that the budget goes far enough?
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  Speaker 2: The budget? I think it has done its job in
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  Speaker 2: the short term. It needs to be part of a
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  Speaker 2: stepping stone to a broader improvement, particularly through those major
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  Speaker 2: projects that are sitting there in line. We know that
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  Speaker 2: there's something like thirty five or forty significant projects, and
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  Speaker 2: even just two or three of those are going to
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  Speaker 2: change some of the narrative around our finances in the future,
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  Speaker 2: so it's important that we keep a focus on that.
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  Speaker 2: We do like the Investment Commissioner. We do like the
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  Speaker 2: Major Projects Commissioner as well as the Infrastructure Commissioner. We
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  Speaker 2: also appreciate the changes to the CEO structures and how
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  Speaker 2: they operate in their budgets well.
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  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland, thank you very much
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  Speaker 1: for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie