Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now we know that there was some major changes come
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: through or some saying major, others will the opposition saying
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that they weren't maybe as major as what the government
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: had said. But a raft of reform, certainly recommended by
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission, have passed through Parliament throughout
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the week and we do know that one of those changes,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: hopefully well by the look of it, it means that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: we are going to be able to use digital drivers'
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: licenses when we have to go through and scan during
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the well with the band drinkers register the BDR as
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you have to do whenever you go and purchase take
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: away alcohol. This is something that Hospitality and t CEO
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Alex Bruce has been talking to us about for quite
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: some time and some of the concerns around different licenses
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: not being able to scan properly, and he joins me
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: on the line right now, good morning to you.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Alex, Good Katie, Alex.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: So does this mean that we are going to be
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: able to you know, to get through and use the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: BDR a little bit more smoothly. This is something you
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and I have of viously spoken about in the past.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, and following you raising the issue. We did
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: get some confirmation from Phil Kidney, the Director of Liquor Licensing,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: a little while ago that we could manually enter digital
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: driver's licenses. They're already rolled out in South Australia and
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: New South Wales, so we're getting more and more tourists
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: coming up and wanting to use them, and so staff
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: in the bottle shop can have a look at the
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: digital driver's license on the person's phone and then manually
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: enter the details to check the BDR. The legislation's just
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: caught up to that now, which is good and probably
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: building a bit of future proofing into it. But now
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: we really want to see what the government's going to
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: do and what time frame are they going to commit
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: to our territoriums being able to get digital driver's licenses. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: you know where they've been rolled out down South. You
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: end up using your physical driver's license a bit like
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: your passport. You keep it safe and secure at home,
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  Speaker 3: and people are just getting out and about and using
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: their smartphone these days.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So when are we going to get to the point
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: where that is able to like where we do actually
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: have those digital driver's licenses, But also what kind of
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: impact or what kind of change will be needed. Then
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: when you talk about the equipment that choose to go
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: through and use the BDR, we well, that's it.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: So we're not shying away that there would be a
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: body of work and it would come at a cost
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: as well to government. The BDR would need to be
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: completely updated so that you can pay weight essentially, and
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: it picks up the data field from your digital driver's
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: license and then checks it against the BDR. So we
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: think it's a while away yet, and we would want
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: to see a commitment on that technology in any government
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: announcement about Territorians having the opportunity like the rest of
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: the country for digital drivers licenses, because otherwise we would
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: get quite a high administrative burden there in our bottle
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: shops if we had to manually enter every single.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then I imagine like if you get a
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: digit wrong, then do you have to go right from
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the start again.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Well, this is where unfortunately the human eraor can creep
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  Speaker 3: into it. The BDR is a bit of a clunky system.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: It just checks if you're on a band blissed or not.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: So if you get the date of birth wrong by
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: a digit, or if you get the name wrong by
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: a letter, it will tell you the person is able
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: to be sold alcohol even if they are on the BDR.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: So yeah, right, it's an issue we've raised. There's a
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: the low proof that's required when you go into the MVR,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: especially if you're an indigenous territory, and the low dock
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: pathways that they've done to help it's not uncommon now
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  Speaker 3: and it's a well worn path where people that are
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: on the BDR are only changing a digit or a
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: letter in their surname to skirt around the system and
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: make it completely useless to be honest.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Wow, So is this something that's like is that a
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: bit of an issue?
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And we've been raising it for countless years with
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: the government. Yeah.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Oh and Alex, I know that, you know, I think
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: we like when we talk about it being clunky and
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: it being difficult and time consuming, and you then said that,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: you know, we can use payWave and things like that.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: It does sort of make you wonder, you know.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: If technology is moving like technology is moving forward that quickly,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: but we're still going through this process of having to
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: put the license down and scan it all through. There
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: has to be some kind of solution that does make
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: it a little bit easier and less cumbersome for everybody involved.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and unfortunately, you know, politics has played a heavy
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: hand on people that support and not support the BDR.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: If you could just cut all of that out and
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: looked at it, it's at best and ineffective tool. We
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: think there are things that we impinge on people's privacy
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: more to make it a more effective tool, and we
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: put that to the government. There's no political will to
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: progress any of that. So look, at some point in
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: probably this term, the government willing will need to make
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: its position clear on whether they're going to call time
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: on the BDA.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Oh well, I don't know if the government will, but
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: we'll we'll keep a close one and anyway, they seem
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: as though they're intent on keeping it, but well, I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: reckon that they're using the statistics and you know, different
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: information to base any of those decisions on.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: But we'll keep an eye on it.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Hey, Alex, We've had a lot, like quite a few
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: businesses get in contact with us over the last couple
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of days, some of them in the hospitality sector about
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: some of the issues that they're seeing around the CBD
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and in other locations around anti social behavior, but particularly.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: From young people at this point.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Is it something that's been raised with you guys through hospitality.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Look, yes it is, and a lot of our venues
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: and some of their staff that have been impacted personally.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: They're taking to social media and sharing their stories and venting,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: and you know, we respect that that's they're right, and
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: you know they're feeling quite frustrated. We did meet with
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: the police yesterday. This was the number one issue that
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: we were discussing with them. We know that they are
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: they know who the main in perpetrators are. I think
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: they are putting a lot of time and focus on
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: on trying to alleviate the problems in the city, and
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: we are appreciative of the work that the police are
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: doing in that regard. They are hampered a little bit
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: from time to time if they're not physically there to
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: observe it. And then some of this is just rat
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: baggish behavior, people running in, kids running into venues and
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: stealing ships off people's plates and then running back out.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: So it is really hard to for them to completely
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: stomp it out. But we've made it clear that it's
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: something our members are raising with us, and we stand
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: ready to work with police and others.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: To try and curb it well, and you said that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: it was the number one issue raised with the police
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: yesterday when you met with them.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, like, how many have you had quite a.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Few of your hospitality businesses talked to you about this
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: in recent weeks there, Ah.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Yes, But more so I think some of the stories
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: are getting shared directly on social media and we're learning
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: about some of these bad events as they're occurring and
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: people are posting and talking about them. So, you know,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: like Jason Hannah's been quite vocal in this space and
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: he's getting a lot of support from within the industry
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: for the views that he's expressing on how there has
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: been a bit of a flare up. You know, we'll
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: always have incidences in every CBD across the country, but
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: it just does seem to be spiking a bit at
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: the moment with perpetrators younger than eighteen. So just hoping
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: that the government services, not just police, but you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: children and families and all the relevant support agencies can
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: really just get some diversions in place and get those
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  Speaker 3: kids on a better path.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Alex, we know that we're edging a bit closer to
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the council election and obviously the different mayoral candidates, whether
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: you're talking about Darwin or Palmerston, Litchfield or Catherine and
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: everywhere else in between, are coming out with, you know,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: with some nifty and innovative ideas I suppose to try
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and get elected or re elected. And we know that
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: convat Scarlett well, he's promised to get rid of Elfrest
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Go dining fees for the full term of next council.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming that this is something that you know, whether
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: it's Corn or whether it's another candidate, if they also
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: say that they're going to do this, it would be
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: something there to hospitality and to would support and want
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: to happen.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, because our Fresco fees were coming back and then
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: we've got a twelve month deferral just before our most
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: recent lockdown, and this really is about those unlicensed non
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: alcohol serving cafes, those small businesses throughout the city and
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: in the northern suburbs that we're paying the our FISCO fees.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: It gives that small business sector a bit of immediate relief,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: but importantly as well, and we do need to make
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: this clear to Con who's been great by leading on
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  Speaker 3: this one, and we hope all the other candidates can
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: count all of them. Think about it as well. If
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: you can activate and encourage our fresco and use of
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: these public spaces, it really does help the anti social
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: behavior opportunities. It won't fix the smashing, smashing grab for
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: the chips that's going on at the moment, but you know,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: the more people that are out in our public domain
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: using it, enjoying it, the better we all are because
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: it really does displace the opportunity for negative behaviors to
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: congregate and really start to cause trouble. So we do
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: look at it and think it's a no brainer. In
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: a city like ours, which is awesome and does have
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: a beautiful outdoor lifestyle for us to enjoy, but also
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: does have those antisocial behavior challenges, you'd want as much
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: our fresco as possible to help minimize that opportunity. Look
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: on this one, we have to give coma tech. He
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: has led this. We look forward to the election results
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: however that plays out when the residents vote, but engaging
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: with counsel on how we can make this reality.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm always interested to see what different policies all
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: of the candidates come out with them. We are going
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: to make sure that we have all those mayoral candidates
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: on over the next couple of weeks in the leading
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: to the elections. Alex Bruce always good to catch up
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: with you. Hope you have a great weekend. Thank you,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: you two