Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce says there's now more opportunity for international students to get hospitality jobs in the NT thanks to a big announcement

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Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce says there's now more opportunity for international students to get hospitality jobs in the NT thanks to a big announcement · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now I understand that there has been a bit of
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: an announcement made this morning when it comes to our
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: workforce shortage within hospitality as I understand it. Now, joining
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us a little bit
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: more is the CEO of Hospitality NT Alex Bruce. Good morning,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Good morning Katie, Alex. Have you guys been out making
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: a bit of an announcement this morning?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: What's going on? Yeah, Along with the Minister for International
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Education Maria kitt Ben and the as Luke Champions Down
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: a Kindness Shake, Director of Liquor Licensing Feel Timney and us,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: we were able to announce today that we've created a
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: RSA course online for free, specifically for international students they've
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: been The backstory to this is that there've been many
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: years of frustration in the international student community in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory. They haven't been able to access the online
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  Speaker 2: RSA courses that everyone needs to come work with us
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  Speaker 2: when you're dealing with alcohol, you know, responsible service about
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: whole So it's been quite a barrier if they're studying
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  Speaker 2: hospitality related courses as part of their international student requirements.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: That they did have a pathway and there were a
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  Speaker 2: erratic and expensive face to face courses done for them
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  Speaker 2: from time to time. Often there was a disconnect and
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a delay. So luckily cooler heads have prevailed and this
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  Speaker 2: morning we've been how to launch a website with the
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  Speaker 2: online course specifically for them, with local territory specific course content,
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  Speaker 2: you know, be and drinkers registered and enough them and
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  Speaker 2: full price and all those other lovely policies that we
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  Speaker 2: have to deal within our industry up here. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: the Minister was saying, I think there's just show of
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  Speaker 2: three thousand international students in the territory at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: and you know a lot of them are doing law
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  Speaker 2: courses or health courses or accountancy courses. So this open
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  Speaker 2: very easy way to get get what they need. To
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  Speaker 2: jump on out side of the bar and help us out.
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  Speaker 1: And so Alex, how is it, when's it all going
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  Speaker 1: to get underway? And how many international students are you
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  Speaker 1: expecting might be involved.
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  Speaker 2: It's live as well this morning. It's spreading already like
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  Speaker 2: wildfire through that international student community. They're quite a tight
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  Speaker 2: knit community, particularly over the last two years. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they've unfortunately had quite a tough trot and they've pulled
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  Speaker 2: together credit to them, and there's been many businesses as
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: well that have helped them out over the last two
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: years as well, so you know, they know what they're doing.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, we were hearing, unfortunately this morning, horror stories
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  Speaker 2: of some of them having to jump on planes to
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  Speaker 2: Brisbane to go and do the course a couple of
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: years ago. So we're just nipping all of that in
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  Speaker 2: the bud. We're getting rid of some red tape and
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: some barriers. Yeah, you know, you're listens are well aware
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: that everywhere they go they can see the workforce shortages
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: that we're all trying to tackle. So well, that's exactly
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  Speaker 2: another little one that we can try and help with.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 1: And so look how many how big a difference do
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you think that this could potentially make. I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: guess at the point where it is such a shortage
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  Speaker 1: that any help is going to be much appreciated, I
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  Speaker 1: would assume.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: And the next intake of international students, you know, at
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  Speaker 3: the beginning of the year, we sat down with a
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  Speaker 3: bunch of our employers down at WARF one and the
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  Speaker 3: international student cohort that were coming for Semister one.
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  Speaker 2: More than half of them are rocking up without having RSAs,
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  Speaker 2: even though there are employers in the room that are
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  Speaker 2: just chomping at the bit to put them on the
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: books and on the roster. So you know, the next
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: intake following the school holidays coming up, we think we'll
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: be able to get this rolled out quite quickly and
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  Speaker 2: get them working. You've got that fantastic new facility seat
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  Speaker 2: to you in the city being built specifically targeting business
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  Speaker 2: and law international students. So over time we see this
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  Speaker 2: as just an easy way to sync up with them.
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  Speaker 2: They're here to study first and foremost we appreciate that,
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  Speaker 2: but many, many of and want to be able to work.
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  Speaker 2: Hospitality is good for students, you know, whether you're international
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  Speaker 2: or local. You can do your coursework during the day
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  Speaker 2: and that you can jump behind the bar at night
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  Speaker 2: and help us out. So yeah, it was just a
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  Speaker 2: bit of a no brainer from our perspective.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we are going to be catching up with Ben
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  Speaker 1: Perveda Alfonso in just a little while as well to
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  Speaker 1: talk a bit more about the Kindness Shake and some
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: of the work that they do, so I will find
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  Speaker 1: out from his perspective how big a difference this is
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: going to make for some of those international students. But
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  Speaker 1: you know, how are things going at the moment, Alex.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to hospitality, I know it's been incredibly
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: busy on the weekend for the Supercars. It just seemed
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  Speaker 1: as though we had an absolute influx of people.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Absolutely and how good is it seeing these festivals running
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  Speaker 2: at full tilt again after a couple of interrupted years.
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  Speaker 2: So we're looking forward to a strong Racing Cup Carnival,
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  Speaker 2: We're looking forward to a very strong Darwin Festival. All
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  Speaker 2: of these people, you know, like I'm aware on Pup
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Carnival Day they'll need over a thousand bar on that
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: they recruit. So shout out to everyone listening of all ages.
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  Speaker 2: There's pathways we can assist you and getting whatever documentation
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  Speaker 2: you need. Come come join the fun on our side
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  Speaker 2: of the bar. It's a double saving. You're earning money
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  Speaker 2: and you're not spending it drinking. A bit of a
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  Speaker 2: double whammy there.
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  Speaker 1: Bit of a shout out for workers this morning. By
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  Speaker 1: the sounds of it, Alex Bruce, it sounds like they
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: are going to be absolutely required throughout the whole dry season,
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  Speaker 1: just about.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely and first and foremost, you know, we want people
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  Speaker 2: considering us for skills and longer term jobs. But we've
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  Speaker 2: got casual jobs, we've got part time jobs, we've got
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  Speaker 2: those event jobs. We want great power, we want international students.
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  Speaker 2: We want anyone that's sitting on the couts or has
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  Speaker 2: an adolescent sitting on the couts, get them into our
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  Speaker 2: industry and a way we go.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, just before I let you go. You know, obviously
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  Speaker 1: there has been discussion as well about bringing international well
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  Speaker 1: people across internationally or you know, different visa requirements and
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: things like that so people can get back to work.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Do you think we're going to see some movement in
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: this space? You know, we've got a new federal minister.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I know that there is a bit of work happening
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 2: I look, we hope. So we didn't send anyone, but
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: we participated in the delegation that the Law Mayor took
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  Speaker 2: over to Denvers. We've had follow up conversations with the Chamber,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Tourism top end, the Chief Minister out of the track
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: on the weekend. You know, it's all well and good
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  Speaker 2: for the federal government to be talking about potentially four
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: thousand additional visa workers from Indonesia as an example, They're
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: going to have to do something about the English Test
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  Speaker 2: if they're going to be serious about it, And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'll put to the Chief Minister or if there's four
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  Speaker 2: thousand nationally, we should be saying the NT once a
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: thousand of those things And she said, why only a thousand,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: we should go for two. I agree. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: there is a strong sense of collaboration across the levels
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: of government and industry across the territory. But we really
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: do need to be pushing for a Northern Australia solution
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: in camera. Yeah, otherwise this whole Sydney and Melbourne is full,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: just seems to swamp these issues way too regularly.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Hey, what's this requirement with the English Test? What
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: do you want to see? What needs to change or
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: what needs to happen here?
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, it gets quite complex quite quickly, and you
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  Speaker 2: need one of those disclaimers about please see your own
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  Speaker 2: migration agents advice. But some of the English tests are
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  Speaker 2: to owner us for our workers for some of those
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  Speaker 2: places like Indonesia, to really ramp up how many people
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  Speaker 2: we could be welcoming alongside us in our community as territorians.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I know you're talking to Ben soon,
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  Speaker 2: but these people go on to be very valued members
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  Speaker 2: of the territory and community for many many years, so
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  Speaker 2: I see them as first Australians as opposed to migrants.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Alex, no doubt there'll be some movement in this
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  Speaker 1: space hopefully. Let us know you know when you get
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: a bit of an update. We always appreciate your time though,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for chatting this morning.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: He's Patty all the best.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you.