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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hospitality and CEO Alex Bruce. Good morning to you. Alex.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Good hey Katie.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Now Alex, some changes or we're certainly set for a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: bit of a shakeup, the government saying when it comes
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to red tape and the way that we do business,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to try to make business as easy as possible to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: do here in the Northern Territory. What was your initial reaction.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I look very positive. Not so much about new applicants
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: or whatever, which is important and that'll go through all
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: the processes. But what we hear from our existing businesses
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that employ a lot of locals are the red tape
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: just to do anything creative on their spaces. The example
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: that I'd give, and I know you speak to him
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: regularly as well, is Tony out at Nunamar Cabin. Yep.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: He provides a really good rodeo product. I think everyone
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: knows that quite well, and he has to jump through
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: and wade through an enormous pool of red tape every year.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: So yep, we throw things like that on the table
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: and we'd love to see some of that tidied up.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You make a very good point there, and this
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: is the whole thing. Even those businesses that are already established.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: You want to make sure that if they try to
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: think outside the box and do things a little bit differently,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: that they're actually supported rather than hindered.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: That's it. And in our space, in the liquor licensing space,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: often it's easier to go and be a brand new
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: pop up somewhere than a pub look to activate a
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: laneway next door or do something like that. So we've
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: always said, as they lower the red tape, we want
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: there to be equity throughout. So it is about innovation
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: wherever that is in the marketplace.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's like I said, that is a very good point,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and you know, we need to make sure that our
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: territory businesses are supported. I know that the Chief Minister
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: had said earlier on the show they're looking at creating
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: a concierge position. Do you think that's enough or do
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: you think that we really need something like a coordinator
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: general as had been mentioned by Greg Island from the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I listened to Greg and I think I'm in
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: unity with him.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that we'll probably find that a
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: lot of business people are and that you know, we
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: need somebody there who's able to sort of not just
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: listen to concerns, but maybe progress them a little bit more.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: But no doubt there'll be some more detail on these
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: changes as they come to hand. Now we know that
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: there's also the announcement in the last couple of last
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: couple of days and also this morning about the New
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Zealand and Northern Territory travel bubble, and also about the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: potential of well Country Victoria or regional Victoria opening up
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: in the next few weeks. How are you feeling about
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: that from a hospitality perspective?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Look positive. I know there'd be people in our industry
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: that would say, well, that would have been nicer for
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the dry season, but you know, the reality is we're
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: living for a pandemic and every single one of these
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: announcements brings confidence and hope back into the industry, and
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: we're actually looking at it as an opportunity. We want those
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: cooks and chefs working in those jurisdictions up here, and
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: we want them now. Yeah.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean in terms of that, when you talk
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: about the cooks and chefs, how tough is it for
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: some of our hospitality businesses at the moment not being
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: able to have them here in the territory.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: A look so we did a survey two weeks ago
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and we're a bit surprised by the results. Already, we've
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: got about forty percent of our surveyed responses looking for
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: additional staff, and they're splitting their focus between anything they
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: can get local is the first priority and interstate and
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that ramps up to about sixty percent of all of
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: our businesses peaking in about you know, February March April
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: next year. No surprises there as they're all gearing up
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: towards hopefully a bumper dry season next year. So you know,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: it's incredibly important we get as much as we can locally.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: And that's why the federal governments announcement that from today,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: any of our businesses, just like in any other sector
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: that does want to you know, put their money where
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: their mouth is and employ a territory and into their
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: business on our apprenticeship, is going to be incentivilized to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: do that. And the other side of it is as
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: we get some other of these New Zealand and regional
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Victoria opening, we will absolutely be aggressively targeting the skilled
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: workers that are in those jurisdictions.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and this is it. As you've touched on,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: we know the Prime Minister he's got this new one
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: point two billion dollar apprentice wage subsidy scheme. It's more
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: than half of businesses looking to recruit new stuff in
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the coming months. Well that's sort of the hope, I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: guess will be eligible. Just how big a game changer
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: is this for the hospitality industry.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Look, we think it's crucial because it'll be no surprise
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: to you or the listeners. You know, we are quite
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: reliant on international skilled workers in our sector and a
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: lot of them got stood down and sent home or
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: of transing and it moved on. We still have some
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: connected in our businesses up here, but not enough for
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: a bump a couple of peak seasons which we're hoping for.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: So with the international picture still very unclear, we really
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: need local territory and workforce and interstate workforce to be
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: as strong as it can be.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Alex. Just finally, this morning, we have been speaking about
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: some of the concerns in Alice Springs at the moment
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: that we're being told about when it comes to crime.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Are you hearing much from the hospitality sector at the moment.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I was down there a couple of weeks
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: ago too, So I'll probably high fight Gregor on the
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: highways Someway speaking to restaurants, the accommodation, the pubs and
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: clubs in town. Unfortunately, crime is the number one issue
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: that you can put on these other other events to
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: try and attract bona fide tourists, even intrastate or intra
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: territory tourists from dalw and down. But got to get
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: a better handle on the crime first, is the message
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: out here.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Alex Bruce, the CEO of Hospitality NT, we
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: always appreciate your time mate, thanks for having a chat
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: with us today, Kes. We thank you.