Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Darwin restaurant owner Martin Bouchier says the industry is pushing to stop a hospitality worker from being deported to Bangladesh

Transcript

Darwin restaurant owner Martin Bouchier says the industry is pushing to stop a hospitality worker from being deported to Bangladesh · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that there is a well known and well
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: loved hospitality worker who's called Darwin home for the last
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: five years and could soon be deported. Despite the critical
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: worker shortage that we've got in the sector. Now, the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: industry is indeed rallying to support Lebie, calling on the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: federal government to allow him to remain in the country. Now,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now to talk a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: little bit more about this situation, but also about the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: workforce shortage that we've got at the moment is Martin Boucher,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: who is indeed the owner of Fat Mango.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Martin.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very well, lovely to have you on the show
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: this morning.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Good to be here.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Now tell us, tell us a little bit more about
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: le Bibe.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I know that he's well, it sounds as ow he's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: friends with everybody in the industry.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Well, that's one of the great things about our industry.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: We're a huge family. I mean, the hospitality side of
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: what we are is what makes Darwin something very, very
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: fat special. And you know, we all stick together, we
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: all work together, we eat, live and breathe together, you know,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: so when one of our own is facing issues like
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: the Beabes. Then you know, we of course we all
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: rally around.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: From your perspective, what is the situation at the moment
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: with Lebe?
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  Speaker 3: You know, Lebiv's the same as there's many, many, many
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: guys in town that are facing very very similar issues
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: as people on bridging visas, that have been on bridging
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: visas as far as I know, in like six years
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: with no guarantee of whether they're going to stay or not.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: And you know, Laviv can't afford the fifteen thousand dollars
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: required to change the visa over you know, it's like
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: we pay. I mean, I was in the same situation
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: ten years ago, very very similar situation, but I was
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: lucky that I managed to get a loan from my
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: employer and I paid it off. But you know that
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  Speaker 3: it's absolutely ridiculous. But the issues that we have in
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: our industry, not just in the Northern Territory but all
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: over this country. And yet we're kicking out guys that
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: have been working, living, breathing and loving our industry for
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: the last seven years. You know, it's madness.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: That's the part that I think I'm quite surprised by,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: is it you're literally talking about people that have been
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a huge part of the community for you know, for
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: five years in Lebbe's case, and then you know, facing
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: deportation when then we're also you know, on the other hand,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: have the Jobs and Skills Summit that happened federally not
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: too long ago, where they're talking about, you know, increasing
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the cap on people being able to move to Australia
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  Speaker 1: to work.
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  Speaker 2: So it just seems bizarre to me.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: It's a Kelly as barstacle. Genuinely, as Fascal I like
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: to say, it's been going on years. I had many
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  Speaker 3: good friends of mine that you build relation ships over
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: the years of being up here. But you know, the
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: same thing in two weeks get out of the country,
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  Speaker 3: you know, get rid of all the stuff five five
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: years of living and breathing in a place you build
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: up and accumulate belongings, and then you've got two weeks.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: You know, it's it's it's ridiculous. It genuinely is. And
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  Speaker 3: I think people like Andrew Giles down, you know, Minister
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  Speaker 3: for Immigration and Citizenship down on the federal basis, needs
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: to sort of wake up and smell the roses. You know,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: we've got it. Beggars believe Kenry It genuinely does. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I don't want to swear on air, but this this
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: this industry needs people like the beeB. It needs people
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: like Tom and Derek and Gracie and you know, all
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: the beautiful people that make this industry. What it is
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: that doubt being Giuseppe's Pinocchio.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, margin from your perspective, you know, how
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: are things going at them? When you talk about the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: workforce shortage and some of the issues that we have
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: been experiencing in the territory.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: When it comes to that shortage.
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  Speaker 3: It's it's is genuinely hard work, you know. I mean
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  Speaker 3: we we've stuck lucky at our restaurants. We've managed to
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: replace some staff that have gone. We've got a plethora
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: of backpackers, but that's coming to the end now because
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: they all follow the follow the sun as it were,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: and it's getting a bit too warm for some of them,
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  Speaker 3: so they're going to head off down to Adelaide, Melbourne
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  Speaker 3: and Sydney as their weather improves. You know, that's the
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  Speaker 3: nature of what this business is. But when you've got
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: people that want to stay in the Northern territory, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that's the bit. I don't understand. It's like we we
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: we we talk when we're down the pub, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you go down to the tap bar, we sit and
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: have a beer. We go to all all these beautiful
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: places that we've got. This town does not operate without
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  Speaker 3: visa works because, you know, we just need people in.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: We need people that are keen to be in the industry,
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  Speaker 3: have a passion for the industry, you know, I mean
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: the being started off as a dishwasher, now as a manager.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's you know, that's that's stories a thousand
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: people in this town.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's exactly the kind of people you want,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: you know, that love the industry and that want want
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  Speaker 1: to be part of it and all it myself.
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  Speaker 3: I mean I came over. I was a visa worker,
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  Speaker 3: you know. I came over on the old four five seven.
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  Speaker 3: I had two years, I had two weeks left, and
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  Speaker 3: luckily for me, the Dowlings heard about me and shipped
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  Speaker 3: me up here from Adelaide and the rest is history,
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  Speaker 3: as they say, you know, but I love the territory,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I want to put everything I've got into
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  Speaker 3: promoting the territory. And I'm lucky to be able to
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  Speaker 3: do that around the country and around the world, and
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: you know, why not somebody else. But you know, why
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  Speaker 3: what this mentality of oh you've ticked the wrong box.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah you're gone. Yeah, no, go back to Bangladesh, go
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: back to Indonesia, go back to England, Germany, France, wherever.
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  Speaker 3: You know. Honestly, it's I haven't got the words to
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  Speaker 3: be able to say this is wrong. Yeah, you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: maybe maybe our local Polly's, you know, it's not just
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: a federal issue. Maybe maybe maybe mister Giles needs to
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: set up a branch up here. We used to have
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: an immigration office that's not here anymore. You know, where
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: you could go and you could actually talk to somebody.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Now you're talking to some faceless wonder in Melbourne or
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  Speaker 3: Sydney or.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Canberra, which I would imagine makes it so difficult. You know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: it's so bloody difficult.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, it's bloody ridiculous.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi, Martin, I am going to have to get
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: ready to wrap up before I let you go. Though
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: obviously we have got the public holiday now on Thursday
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: as a result of the passing of Queen Elizabeth.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: How is that going?
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: You know, from your perspective, is it is it sort
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of making things if when it said added public holiday
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: or you guys going to open, what's it looking like
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it is difficult, and we've made the difficult
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: decision to close the doors. I mean I sat up
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: till two o'clock this morning watching them obviously not a
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: not an Australian. Australian, even though I've got the really passport. Yeah, yeah,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: I sat up watching the pageantry and the amazing you
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: know thing with the Queen's funeral yesterday. But unfortunately, yeah,
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: we're going to have to close because I just can't
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: afford to pay all of my guys when it's one
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  Speaker 3: of the quietest days of the actual week, you know.
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  Speaker 3: So so we're unfortunately closing, But I'll be I'll be
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: having a beer and we'll be having a toast and
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: we'll get together with our crew. I'm going to take
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: them out for a drink and we'll we'll toast the
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Queen and new King Charles, good on him. Yeah, and
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: you know, but yeah, the you know, public holders are
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: a killer. Nobody wants to pay the extra money. You know,
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: We've got surcharges that we thoughts, but you know, when
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: they come into the restaurant, don't necessarily understand it.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes it hard.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Well, Martin, I appreciate your time this morning.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for having a chat with us,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and and please keep us up to date if you
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: do hear that there's any changes when it comes to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Labebe's situation. But by the sounds of things, you know
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: it's not just him, there are others as well, So
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: keep us up to date and let us know how
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: things go.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: It would be my absolute pleasure. Teddy, really good to talk.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: To you, you too, Thank you, Martin. See ya