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

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, the Deputy Chief Minister, Nicole Madison's been traveling the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: territory with a promise to cut red tape and long
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: approval delays as well as getting new job creating projects
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: off the ground. We just spoke with Drew Wagner about
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: what that could look like for the mining industry, but
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: what does it look like for the territories business sector.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Were joining me on the line to talk about that
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: is the Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Island.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Morning, Greg, Good morning man, how are you this morning?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Good? Thanks? Greg? As I understand it you're on a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: little bit of a road trip yourself down in Catherine
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: this morning.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, shut down the cast in this morning. Just arrived.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: So we have a Chamber in General meeting down here
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: today and looking forward to catching a few members.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Very good Greg. As I mentioned, it's a call that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the business industry has long been making. The Deputy Chief
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Minister being quoted as saying she can make it happen
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in terms of cutting red tape and long approval delays
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and new job creating projects. Are you confident Nicole Madison
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: is the one who can make this happen.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I certainly believe Minister Madison is certainly in the right
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: place at the right time to make these things happen
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: as transpires. I met with Minister Madison yesterday to talk
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: about this very subject and I walked out of the
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: room feeling very confident that we will have access to
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: her and that she has a very strong focus on
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: enabling business in the territory.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: That's really good to hear that because I know for
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: so long a lot of industry groups have been saying
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the opposite, that ministers can be hard to access and
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: they walk away without any promises or substances. Was there
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: anything in particular that made you really confident in chatting
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to the Deputy Chief Minister yesterday.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's been a bit evident over the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: last few weeks and certainly since the election, that the
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Territory government has really rammed up protectivity, focusing on a
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: lot of the rhetoric around all of this, and it
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: really is the evidence and the delivery of that that
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: is so important to us. That's why we wanted to
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: meet with Minister Manison and just explained it. At this
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: super critical time, it's hugely important that we kick some
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: goals in this space, and everything that we discussed was
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: that was positive, and I'm convinced that she wuld certainly
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: be giving it to go and has the mandate from
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister to do so.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Greg, what industries are are the one the greatest ones
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: calling out for reform at the moment?
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Look, I think and you would have spoken to Drew
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: around the mining and particularly the environmental harmonization potential and
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: as well as approval processes being probably top of the list.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: We also see that in agriculture and agricultural opportunities around
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the territory as well. So we really do need to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: get these approval processes rushed through without compromising any of
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: equality of that service.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Greg, what role, if any, has COVID played in I
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: guess in the approvals process. Has it slowed anything down
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: as the government focused on other areas instead, or would
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you say that COVID's affected businesses in other more obvious ways.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Well, perhaps it's interestingly had the opposite effect. I think,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: you know, I think we've long been bemoaning red tape
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and delays around processes, and what we saw during COVID
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: was the ability for government to react very very quickly,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: make changes at a moment's notice, and really drive those
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: outcomes at a call to the Chief Minister of the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: time was to see that sorte of attitude continue, and
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: I think that's what hopefully we'll see over the next
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: few months.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Then that's a really good point. And an example that
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I can think of pretty easily is how quickly restaurants
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: and say takeaway places were able to adapt to COVID
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: when you know, we could no longer dine into restaurants.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I imagine ordinarily in terms of being able
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to be a business and say start up a takeaway
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: or even I know, I was able to order from
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: a local pub while we're in lockdown and get you know,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: a beer delivered to my door, you know, with a burger.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, ordinarily you'd have to go through a lot
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of red tape to do that. But it almost seemed
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: like overnight the government were able to make that happen.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right, man, And it certainly did make
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: a difference to those businesses. And we saw the ability
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: for people to partake in activities that wouldn't normally be available.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: And then we saw business innovate things like traveling musicians
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: delivering your food and playing a few songs of the
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: ability to order from places that you normally would have
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: to physically visit. Those are the initiatives that we would
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: like to see in the attitude that we'd like to
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: see perpetuated. Greg.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: When I spoke with Nicole Maison a little bit earlier,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: she flagged that the public sector obviously has a big
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: role to play in this cutting red tape and the
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: slashing approval approval delays and new job creating projects. What
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: role do you think the public sector can do better
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: or to help the private sector?
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: I think the big combinating in those processes and really
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: drive those outcomes. Don't let things sit in intros or
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: too hard baskets for too long. We would like to
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: see somebody responsible for moving those processes through the system
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: as quickly as possible. So we've spoken to the Minister
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Manison about those opportunities and how we can best get
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: those time prayse reduced to the minimums possible.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Greg, I know it's a conversation that pops up from
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: time to time, but do you warned there's a growing
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: war between the public and the private sector when it
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: comes to the fact that I guess the public sector
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: has somewhat more appealing recruitment process. Obviously their wages and entitlement.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: So I mean it's probably not something we're talking about
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: a lot at the moment. But you being you know,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: as part of the Chamber of Commerce, is that something
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that your members flag with you, that war between the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: public and the private sector.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not quite sure to go quite as far
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: as calling it a war, but it certainly is the
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: BDE that that is diffuel for private enterprise to compete with.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: It clearly can offer the same level of remuneration and
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: all conditions, so it is problematic from a recruitment perspective
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: on occasions, is.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: There anything that the private sector could be doing differently
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to compete? I suppose you'd say.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: It's a challenging one. Again, we hear a lot about
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: territory business and their ability to be competitive, and that
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: really does come from being efficient and having your cost
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: base being as low as practically possible. If you're trying
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: to compete with government wages, it's only going to drive
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: those recovery costs upwards.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Just finally, Greg, can I get your thoughts on council's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: move to delay a decision on the new RSL clubhouse
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: on the Esplanade. Is this a proposal that the Chamber
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: were supportive of and were you surprised at what happened
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: at the meeting on Tuesday night.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Look, I think all potential development considerations should be given
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: appropriate airtime and the real impacts of them possessed properly
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and understood. As I understand it, the process is for
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Counsel to approve and then any cultural assessments to be
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: done after that point. If that's the case, then I
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: would have thought that this process should still be continuing. Yeah.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I raised that question with the Lord Mayor. I said, no,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: one is undermining what issue has been raised. I think
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of people were just shocked that. I think
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Contandy took that call at about five o'clock and you know,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: everything changed by the time the Council meeting rolled around
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: at six.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I certainly agree to the motive issue and
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: those people that have those concerns right to have them
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: all held. But I think if process is being followed
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: and Council leaves that particular manner to the designated authorities,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: then that would be the due process and consider the
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: application on its merits accordingly. Yeah.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's going to be one to watch the Anti
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Island will have to leave
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: it there. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Now where is it all? Matt, appreciate it time.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Thanks Greg. That's Greg Island. Their Lives from Catherine this morning,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the CEO of the Anti Chamber of Commerce