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Katie Woolf spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From Hospitality NT. The CEO Alex Bruce, Good morning, Alex.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good a, Kady Alex.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the QR codes and the contact tracing
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: which is set to come into play. How are the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: hospitality businesses out there feeling at the moment confident and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: ready for it.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: To roll out?
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say that's a fair assessment. You know, there
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: might there might be a couple of teething problems as
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: this rolls out, and we just asked that our customers
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: and the public there with us. But very happy that
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: the government has gone down the path of doing a
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: one stop chop kind of system for us. We think
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: that'll make it easier for customers. You know, you might
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: you might have a coffee with someone in the morning,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: you might end up somewhere for lunch and then going
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: out with your family that night. So you're going to
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: be giving the same detail over and over again. So
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: if they're up that they're launching, can remember that detail,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: which I understand it can. It just makes the system
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: so much easier.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask you, are you finding
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: that most businesses are going to go down that line
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: line with the with the app that the government has
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: provided absolutely.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: We had our AGM as an industry yesterday, So clubs, pubs, restaurants,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: wayside ins, cafes, restaurants, they were all there and I
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: think you'll see a large chunk of them get onto
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: this system. There are a couple of other systems that
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: are quite good, you know. The Discovery Boys have done
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: a phenomenal job and they've got a really good system
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: as well, which will be part of part of the
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: fabric up here now, Alex.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: We know that once those borders opened I open, I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: should say, particularly to Melbourne, people are going to be
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: some people will be feeling a little bit nervous. This
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: just does add that extra layer though, doesn't it. It
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: makes it a bit easier for people to actually know
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: where people or where someone has gone. If indeed we
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: end up with a situation where there's COVID in the community.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: But that's it. And and and to each credit, the
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Chief help Officer reached out before he made the public
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: announcement a few weeks earlier and gave us the head
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: up that he was thinking about going down this path
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: with his show directions. That gave us the opportunity we
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: engaged with our counterparts into state the feedback was, you know,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: it's a bit clunky in Brisbane where there's six or
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: seven systems floating around and you're having to give you
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: same details over and over again. The new South Wales
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: one's apparently quite good, but the best on field was
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: the ACT system and we advocated that back into the government.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: So very happy that they've adopted basically the Checking Canberra
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: system and it's Checking Territory up here. It's meant to
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: be the most easy for customers to.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Use, so it'll literally just be a situation for you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: for Territorians where when you go into a different business,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: you basically hit the camera parte on your phone. It
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: scans that QR code, brings up the app and you
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: type your details in as required.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: That's it. And you know for those that don't have smartphones,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: or you might be out and about and you might
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: just be carrying your wallet and not your phone, there
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: will always be the backup or a manual entry no
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: pattern ten.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Now I did ask the Health Minister yesterday. We saw
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: that situation in South Australia where somebody obviously lied about,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you know, exactly what they've been doing in a business.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It led to the whole state going into lockdown. I mean,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: do you think that we need to make sure we're
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: pretty strict with these rules right from the get go,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: so that if somebody does lie, they know that there's
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: going to be a consequence.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: I'd say that, and we've been strong advocates of this
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: too government. It is the responsibility of the public, So
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: we do want to see a pretty good public awareness
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: campaign run out on this. You've got busy venues and
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: it's best endeavors from them. They'll be signage everywhere that
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: we check in on every entry point and backups on
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: the tables and the bars and everything else. And if
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: we do that and someone snacks into our venue and
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: stays longer than fifteen minutes, if you want to get
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: out the fine book, unfortunately you have to hit the punter,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: not the venue, because they're just not operating as best
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: we can with all these rules.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair enough.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I actually think that it should be the personal responsibility
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of each individual. You know, if you're out there and
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: you're not going to tell the truth, well, you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: you can't expect the business to be suffering as a
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: result of that.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: That's it. And on one of these things that we
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: do find frustrating with the year that has been in
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: is I bet you that pizza delivery guy that more
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: than a pizza delivery guy or buying his own pizza
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: for fifteen minutes, But it actually works there for shifts.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: You know, for the last six months, Google knew that
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Apple knew that. How come the government.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Didn't very good point and how bloody frustrating, you know,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: to then end up in a situation where the whole
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: state was sort of in chaos because one person had lied.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: That's it. That's just the cost. The cost for everyone,
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: community and businesses is just so high.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, Alex, we know that the council, the Darwin
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: City Council have decided to do another couple of rounds
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: of the My Darwin vouchers.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Good news from your.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Perspective, absolutely, Christmas has come a little bit early and
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: people can get out and about and you know, you
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: can't go to Bali, you can't go to Thailand, and
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I don't take away that. You know, people like varise options,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: but they're out of action at the moment, So come
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: out and about and enjoy. This will help incentivize in
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: the Darwin area and we do want to acknowledge. You know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: they were the first out there with the voucher in
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: our space, incentivizing territories to spend. They've led, They've led
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the way in many ways in that regard, and it
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: just helped provide some of that business and consumer confidence
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: in our darkest times.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's been the feedback from the hospitality industry in
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: terms of the way in which these vouchers have worked.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Have they made much of a difference.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the data I've seen from the last round that
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: that my Darwin roll out, the multiply effect was eight
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: dollars for every one dollar that they were throwing in.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: So that's that's quite a good incentive. It did encourage
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: people to get out about I think locals were wanting
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: to support local businesses through this economic trouble anyway, And
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: I don't want to take away from territorians in that regard.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I think the response that we have collectively or just
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: dug in. I know a lot of people that felt
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: like they were less financially hit have taken it upon
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: themselves to eat out a little bit more, or shop
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: in a local retailer a little bit more. So, you know,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: all these things are just so important and we're just
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: incredibly appreciative of them.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, mate.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I'm at the point where I am getting sick of
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: cooking for myself.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: I think I'd prefer to go meet whenever I can.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: So if that's incentive, let's do it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Well, that's it, and I'll make the point. You know.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: The gym's unfortunately got shut down too, so come and
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: dive out lots for lot for lots and they can
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: pick up the extra business on the other side.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: So that's exactly right.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Good plan. I reckon exercise so you can eat more.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Alex Bruce.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with you. Thanks so much
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: for your time this morning, Kus Katie, thank you.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: That is hospitality ng CEO there, Alex Bruce