Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Tourism Central Australia's Danial Rochford outlines what he's hoping for from the jobs and skills summit

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Tourism Central Australia's Danial Rochford outlines what he's hoping for from the jobs and skills summit · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line from Alice Springs, Tourism Central
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning to you, Daniel.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to you listen.
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  Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show now, Daniel. We
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  Speaker 1: know this Job Summit or Jobs and Skills Summit federally
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  Speaker 1: is about to get underway later in the week. What
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  Speaker 1: are you guys out of Central Australia hoping to see
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  Speaker 1: from this summit.
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  Speaker 2: Well, as you know, Katie, our industry is rebounding from
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  Speaker 2: the difficult days of the pandemic and we're certainly experiencing
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  Speaker 2: significant labor shortages within the tourism and hospitality industries, and
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  Speaker 2: I know that's been built up in Darwin as well.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, we're looking for real and tangible solutions
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  Speaker 2: that can be enacted sooner rather than later out of
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  Speaker 2: this summit. And you know we've got members saying to
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  Speaker 2: me right now that they need many, many staff to
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  Speaker 2: fill the void.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel, how do you think we're going to do that?
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  Speaker 1: Does it come down to just sort of you know,
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  Speaker 1: I know that in the past who said let's get
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  Speaker 1: gray nomads to work. Let's try to get people from
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  Speaker 1: other States. But is it a situation here where we
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  Speaker 1: need to actually have people coming in from overseas to
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  Speaker 1: work as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Look, I think there's clearly four key key
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  Speaker 2: initiatives out of the summit that we're certainly looking for.
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  Speaker 2: Ones of course that increasing the cap of migration and
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  Speaker 2: that's certainly a bit of a no brainer in the
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  Speaker 2: current climate. I think also extending and supporting the Pacific
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  Speaker 2: Labor Mobility Program. You know, there's been much talk about
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  Speaker 2: the Pacific at the moment and the rise of China.
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  Speaker 2: You know, no better way in our national interest to
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  Speaker 2: develop greater ties with the Pacific than of the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: of employment in Australia. I think the grainomads as you've
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  Speaker 2: touched on, you know, making sure the pension rules get
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  Speaker 2: relaxed to allow people to work a little bit extra
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  Speaker 2: there's a huge especially in the tourism sector. You know,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people hitch up the van and come
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  Speaker 2: to the Northern Territory to be able to work a
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  Speaker 2: few more extra hours and not lose the pension is
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  Speaker 2: probably a good thing and certainly the biggest one for
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  Speaker 2: us here in the Northern Tier Tree is about how
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  Speaker 2: we work with our indigenous communities to encourage workforce participation
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  Speaker 2: and that's a big one, and you know, that's probably
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  Speaker 2: the hardest of all for in my opinion, the most important.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and look it seems it does seem to me, Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you and I have spoken about this situation
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  Speaker 1: with the skill shortage and job shortage for such a
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  Speaker 1: long period of time. It just seems, you know, to
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  Speaker 1: me that we're obviously going through this skill summit and
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  Speaker 1: job summit, which is is a good thing on the
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  Speaker 1: face of it, but you know, how quickly can we
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  Speaker 1: actually see some action here because that is what people need,
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  Speaker 1: They actually need people in jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, very much. I look, the Northern Territory government has
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  Speaker 2: been putting in place of our theories of different initiatives
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  Speaker 2: and funding and you know that's been very admirable. But look,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of the challenges are at that macro level
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  Speaker 2: and have to be dealt with by the federal governments.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that's where this summit is crucial,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm hopeful that you know, we'll certainly see action
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  Speaker 2: pretty soon thereafter because you know, one of the things
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  Speaker 2: that has done with this some of whose build expectation
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  Speaker 2: and you know, we want to see we want to
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  Speaker 2: see real change, and we want to see it really quickly.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, I'm ever the optimist and I hope
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  Speaker 2: that we'll start to see that.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, last time we spoke, you had talked us through
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  Speaker 1: some fantastic numbers. When it comes to tourism in Central Australia,
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  Speaker 1: how are things going at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're starting a bit like you guys up there.
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  Speaker 2: In our events season here, we've had the hendling On
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  Speaker 2: Todd record numbers, we had some amazing events. It was
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  Speaker 2: no vacancy right across the town over the weekend, and
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  Speaker 2: of course we're leading into the Red Center, NATS and
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  Speaker 2: then of course Desert Song, Desert Festival and Desert Mob.
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  Speaker 2: So it's alive and well here in Central Australia. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I courage all the folk up in the top ends
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  Speaker 2: that hitch the van or come down and experience our
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  Speaker 2: many great events.
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  Speaker 1: And how's it going then with the hotels? Have you
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  Speaker 1: heard of hotels putting caps on guest numbers or anything
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  Speaker 1: like that.
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  Speaker 2: Point, No, they're pretty much relaxed that. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're starting to get at capacity. So you know, for instance,
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  Speaker 2: the events that we had over the last weekend. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we had people camping at Black Sky Park and in
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  Speaker 2: our overflow areas, so you know we are pretty much
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  Speaker 2: at capacity. So but you know, certainly encourage anyone interested
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  Speaker 2: coming down to the events to book early.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well it sounds like you definitely need to Daniel Rochford.
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  Speaker 1: It's always good to catch up with you, mate. I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. And let's hope that these
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  Speaker 1: Jobs and Skills Summit sees some real change for us
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory and an ability to get people
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  Speaker 1: into jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not just a hope now, it's a need
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  Speaker 2: and let's hope all our political leaders can see that
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  Speaker 2: vision for us. So yeah, he's hoping.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, just on the number of jobs that you do need, Phil,
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  Speaker 1: what's the latest.
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  Speaker 2: We're thinking it's around the three hundred marks, which has
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  Speaker 2: come down significantly. I remember talking to you about and
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  Speaker 2: saying it at one stage we had a thousand voyages
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  Speaker 2: have I think got a one hundred and fifty from
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  Speaker 2: the specific labor mobility program and so it's the Gooday group.
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  Speaker 2: So you know that we've certainly reduced from the peak
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  Speaker 2: that we were requiring which is why we've been able
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  Speaker 2: to open to full capacity. But still three hundred that's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a lot of people, lots of you know,
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  Speaker 1: lots of positions that if you're not able to fill them,
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  Speaker 1: it has an impact on the workforce in so many
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  Speaker 1: different ways.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And look, I think the guys are doing an
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  Speaker 2: absolute admirable job to make sure customer service remains as
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  Speaker 2: high as we can possibly get. But you know, there's
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  Speaker 2: only so much pressure that can be built up. And
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  Speaker 2: I was speaking to just one operator on Friday who said,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he desperately needs three He's a small business person,
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  Speaker 2: but he needs three or four staff and you can
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  Speaker 2: see the pressure building on his face, you know, he
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  Speaker 2: needs help. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, I hope we are able
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  Speaker 1: to see some you know, some change in this space
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  Speaker 1: as a result of this, jobs and skills, and sooner
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  Speaker 1: rather than later. Daniel Rochford always good to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with you, mate, Thanks so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you