Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Property Council Executive Director Ruth Palmer says recent survey identified crime and anti-social behaviour as a key factor to skills shortage

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Property Council Executive Director Ruth Palmer says recent survey identified crime and anti-social behaviour as a key factor to skills shortage · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: It is just after nine point thirty eight nine four
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  Speaker 1: one one four nine is the number if you'd like
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  Speaker 1: to call through this morning, if you want to send
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  Speaker 1: us a message zero four double nine seven double one
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  Speaker 1: three six zero. And look, I am hoping that at
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  Speaker 1: some point throughout the morning we may actually be able
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  Speaker 1: to hear from a little Miss Korea, who I know
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  Speaker 1: are a wonderful local business there in Austin Lane and
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure you know, really feeling it today following on
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  Speaker 1: from that incident overnight. So I'm hoping that we may
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  Speaker 1: hear something from them at some point this morning, because
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  Speaker 1: as I said, I know that they're a great local
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  Speaker 1: business and it must be a difficult time for them
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  Speaker 1: at this point. Work Safe obviously investigating the details of
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  Speaker 1: how this explosion started last night or exactly what has
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  Speaker 1: gone on, but look a bit of a change of
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  Speaker 1: pace because a recent survey has been conducted by the
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  Speaker 1: Property Council of Australia's Northern Territory branch, and it's shown
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  Speaker 1: that crime and anti social behavior have emerged as key
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  Speaker 1: factors contributing to the skill shortage that we're experiencing right
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  Speaker 1: now in the Northern Territory. Now a Property Council NT
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  Speaker 1: survey of territory businesses identified forty three percent of all respondents. Well,
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  Speaker 1: will they believe that people are leaving the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: because of the high level of crime and anti social behavior?
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully I've got that figure right. But anyway, joining me
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  Speaker 1: in the studio right now to tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more is the Chief Executive of the Property Council
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  Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory, Ruth Palmer. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Ruth, morning, Katie. You were pretty close.
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  Speaker 1: It was close. Excellent. Now Ruth, tell us when was
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  Speaker 1: this survey conducted and what was the purpose?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie. So I did this survey in August
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  Speaker 2: on the back of the recommendations that we put forward
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  Speaker 2: to the government around the workforce shortages and the skills
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  Speaker 2: shortage for them to use for the summit. So I
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  Speaker 2: know that our recommendations were taken on board and put
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  Speaker 2: through submissions with the government's submission for the skills. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, when we're sort of talking about that workforce
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  Speaker 2: attraction and global campaigning, really wanted to sort of try
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  Speaker 2: and drill down and get data around well, what a
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  Speaker 2: business is actually thinking and feeling here in the territory,
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  Speaker 2: like what is the real, real numbers that are coming
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  Speaker 2: out of it, And you know, we really wanted to
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  Speaker 2: get that perception base as well, so you know what
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  Speaker 2: interstate people think about the NT and that was around
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  Speaker 2: eighty six percent of that crime and any social behavior.
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  Speaker 2: So they're big numbers and it's alarming, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: obviously there's other factors as well, but you know, this
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  Speaker 2: is happening around the country. The country is aware that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we have these issues in the territory and
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  Speaker 2: it is something that is deterring people from coming here.
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  Speaker 1: And look, it's bloody hard to ignore it. I mean
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  Speaker 1: when you see on social media that incident will work
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  Speaker 1: CBD for example, it's hardly good for tourism or to
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  Speaker 1: try to attract people to move here to work. Ruth.
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  Speaker 1: How many people took part in the survey? Yeah, so
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  Speaker 1: it was.
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  Speaker 2: Put out to our entire database. So we've got a
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  Speaker 2: membership database which is quite large. It's over you know,
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  Speaker 2: sort of five hundred six hundred people that are on
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  Speaker 2: that database. But we would have got around that fifty
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  Speaker 2: percent back, So that's a good number for us to
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  Speaker 2: be able to do a a good analysis around sort
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  Speaker 2: of the numbers, you know, it's We also had a
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  Speaker 2: few hundred is a good survey exactly of yeah people
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  Speaker 2: actually you know what they're thinking exactly. And we also
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  Speaker 2: had a survey conducted of a thousand New South Wales
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  Speaker 2: and Victorian residents who to see what their preferred stated
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  Speaker 2: territory was for relocating. The ant raked last. So that
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  Speaker 2: was fourteen percent. So that was one thousand people who
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  Speaker 2: live in New South Wales Victoria. So they put Queensland
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  Speaker 2: as the top and the ant last.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's a pretty telling figure. Now, what was the
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  Speaker 1: main reason why they put us last?
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  Speaker 2: Well, so I would assume that it comes to that
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  Speaker 2: eighty six percent of the perception that interstate people have
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  Speaker 2: and also barriers to recruiting staff from interstate was the
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  Speaker 2: perception of the NT as a place to live and
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  Speaker 2: work at sixty two percent. So these are things out
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  Speaker 2: and that's also combined with you know, the livability, the heat,
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  Speaker 2: the isolation, geographical challenges. But these are real factors that
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  Speaker 2: really make a difference to people's minds when they are
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  Speaker 2: looking at where they want to live and where they
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  Speaker 2: want to raise their families.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, I think the biggest thing when you you know,
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  Speaker 1: say you get a job, or say you're applying for
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  Speaker 1: a job. One of the biggest things that you then
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  Speaker 1: look at if you're going to move somewhere is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: can you find somewhere to live. You're going to google
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  Speaker 1: it as well and look at some of the news stuff,
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  Speaker 1: and then if you've got kids, you're going to look
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  Speaker 1: at whether there's good schools around the place as well.
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  Speaker 1: So you can understand how then people might get a
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  Speaker 1: little bit scared off if when they do look at
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  Speaker 1: some of those news items around the place that it
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  Speaker 1: certainly doesn't paint a good picture at this point. And
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  Speaker 1: I know that the argument can sometimes be old. Well,
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  Speaker 1: the media always runs the negative stuff. You know, if
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  Speaker 1: the incidents aren't happening, it's not something you've got to
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  Speaker 1: worry about.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And I've been speaking to a few
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  Speaker 2: people around this lately, especially around my membership, just sort
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  Speaker 2: of gauging people's opinions, and they've had people that have
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  Speaker 2: come to the territory for work to work for them
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  Speaker 2: and left within the space of two weeks. So this
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  Speaker 2: is relocation costs. It can be seventy to eighty grand
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  Speaker 2: and an entire family. They've come here and they've left.
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  Speaker 2: So these are things that are actually happening in the
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  Speaker 2: real world. These are things that are going on. So
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  Speaker 2: whilst government is doing their best around their global attraction campaigns.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've got millions of dollars being spent on though,
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  Speaker 2: but the messaging really doesn't reflect what people see when
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  Speaker 2: they arrive here. So you know, I think they're getting
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  Speaker 2: a false sense of sort of what it is. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we all love the territory. We're here for a reason.
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  Speaker 2: I've just hit sixteen years. But it is one of
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  Speaker 2: those places you love it or you hate it, I think,
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  Speaker 2: and you can either get involved with it or get
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  Speaker 2: in it. But some people have come here and they
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  Speaker 2: turn around and leave, and that's really sad to see.
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  Speaker 1: It is really sad to see. And I think that's
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  Speaker 1: you know, the fact of the matter is if people
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  Speaker 1: don't feel safe, it does have a huge impulse or
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  Speaker 1: a huge impact, I should say, on them. Ruth. What
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  Speaker 1: were some of the other sort of statistics that you
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  Speaker 1: found out of this survey that was conducted.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so one of the things that we found that
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  Speaker 2: pretty much one hundred percent of well, it was one
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  Speaker 2: hundred percent of all the people that are looking for
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  Speaker 2: staff are finding difficulties. Some of them they cannot feel
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  Speaker 2: at all, and with the majority of them taking over
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  Speaker 2: six weeks. Surprisingly, seventy five percent of respondents said that
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  Speaker 2: there wasn't enough skilled workers here in the territory to
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  Speaker 2: take those jobs. So these these are coming from companies
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  Speaker 2: that have some of them forty people plus and then
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  Speaker 2: you know between that twenty six to forty people, so
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  Speaker 2: they're not they are. There's a lot of big companies
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  Speaker 2: that are looking for staff out there. And yeah, to
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  Speaker 2: hear that seventy five percent can't sort of tap into
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  Speaker 2: that local markets a bit funny. But then on the
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  Speaker 2: flip side, zero percent hadn't taken up any sort of
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  Speaker 2: conversations with VET trainers or CDU, so you sort of
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  Speaker 2: So for me, then I go, well, you know, we've
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  Speaker 2: got third and fourth year students doing either engineering, doing trades,
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  Speaker 2: sort of working in any of those fields. Why aren't we,
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  Speaker 2: you know, getting employers in talking to them saying, hey,
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  Speaker 2: I'll take on a third or fourth year they can
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  Speaker 2: still working with us, they'll get on hands training and
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  Speaker 2: they'll have employment after they finish. And not only that,
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  Speaker 2: it keeps them here in the territory. So if you've
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  Speaker 2: got kids that are going through UNI doing a trade,
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  Speaker 2: the likelihood of them then staying in the territory is
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  Speaker 2: much higher if they're pretty secured employment with someone. So
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  Speaker 2: I think that's like, that's almost like a no brain
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  Speaker 2: a conversation that really could be happening, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: pretty keen to sort of get that going with our
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  Speaker 2: relationship with C to you as well.
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  Speaker 1: So, Ruth, where too from here with these survey results?
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  Speaker 1: Because I think that we quite often sort of see surveys,
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  Speaker 1: you know, conductive, we see results that we go, oh, look,
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  Speaker 1: it's not good. But I'm honestly not overly surprised with
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  Speaker 1: you know, with some of what I can see. But
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  Speaker 1: where to with these results now? Because it would surely
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  Speaker 1: be a bit of a lightning bolt for the government.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So we've actually pleasingly have a meeting with the
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  Speaker 2: Police Minister next week, Minister Warden. So we've reached out
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  Speaker 2: to the government and they've obviously got a copy of
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  Speaker 2: this report and they've had a time to go through that.
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  Speaker 2: They also were provided the recommendations a few weeks ago. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we just wanted to have the data that sort of
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  Speaker 2: to back it up to make this report. So yes,
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  Speaker 2: we will be having a meeting with Minister Warden next week,
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  Speaker 2: so therefore we can get a bit more of an
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  Speaker 2: understanding of sort of what's happening, but also our points
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  Speaker 2: and sort of what the finding show. But also around
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  Speaker 2: the conversation that we've had before around those Liquor Act changes.
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  Speaker 2: So we know back in twenty nineteen there were changes
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  Speaker 2: made to the Liquor Act that made public intoxication not
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  Speaker 2: a criminal offense because it was classed as a health issue.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a few things like that and that two
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  Speaker 2: kilometer rule. So there are some quick, easy wins that
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  Speaker 2: we feel that could sort of start to make a difference.
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  Speaker 2: We're not going to see change straight away, but there
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  Speaker 2: are things that could be done that would hopefully see
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  Speaker 2: that that behavior sort of start slowing down.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we can only hope. Well, Ruth Palmer, always good
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  Speaker 1: to catch up with you. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining us this morning. Thanks a lot, Katie. It is
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  Speaker 1: just eighteen minutes away from ten o'clock now coming your
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  Speaker 1: way in a couple of minutes time. We are going
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  Speaker 1: to be catching up with the Northern Territory Water Police.
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  Speaker 1: We know that last year that sandbar party, well it
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  Speaker 1: saw a bit of chaos, I think you'd say, as
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  Speaker 1: people are trying to leave the sandbar. So we are
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  Speaker 1: going to catch up with the police and just find
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  Speaker 1: out what advice they've got for people if you're thinking
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  Speaker 1: about heading out there, and you know what they are
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  Speaker 1: potentially doing as well to make sure that it's a
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  Speaker 1: little bit smoother than last time round. It is just
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  Speaker 1: eighteen minutes from ten