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Danial Rochford On Crime In Alice Springs · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's Tourism Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning to you, Daniel.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to a listeners from
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: a very cool Alice spring. Eighteen degrees here this month
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: this morning.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Oh half your luck. Gee, it's been hot up here
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: in the top end. Sounds like glorious. Wha they're in Alice.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's stunning.
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  Speaker 1: Now, how are things going when we talk about Ularu?
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  Speaker 1: Obviously twelve months on from that climbing band, has it
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: made much of a difference from your perspective?
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  Speaker 3: Oh?
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  Speaker 2: Look, certainly there's been a lot of challenges faced as
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a result of COVID, But the feedback that we're getting
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: from our members is that our visitors that are coming
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: to Ularu and Cadjuter really immersing themselves into local culture
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: and certainly taking advantage of the experiences that are there
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: at both Ularu and cad Jendam.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: And I know that. Obviously, when the climbing was taken
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: away that aspect sort of people thought it was going
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to a massive impact on tourism. Because I'll talk a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: bit more about COVID in a moment, but with that
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: closure of climbing, you know, a lot of people thought, oh,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: this is going to have a big impact. Did it
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: really have the hit that people were expecting.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Not really, to be honest, I think you know, the
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: reality is the numbers going up to the rock climbing
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the rock weren't hot as high as what was being
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: really reported. And certainly a lot of people are still
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: experiencing LARU just the way they did previously to the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: climb closure.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: And as you mentioned though, the big issue has been
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: obviously in the last twelve months less I guess, but
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: over the last year it's certainly been COVID. How is
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: tourism in Central Australia at the moment.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, there's certainly been some green buds of optimism, Katie,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: but we're still doing a tough Look, there's no sugar
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: coating at We're seeing a number of operators having closed
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: down or merged with other operators down here. But there
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: are certainly some green buds of optimism with Avoutcher scheme
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: most of the Territorian and the interstate. But we also
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: see some great sugar hit through the school holidays and
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: a huge shout out to the guys. All guys from
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the top end have come down to Central Australia over
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  Speaker 2: the coming over the last few months to support the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory of this difficult time.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: It's been really appreciated.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I think it's wonderful the way that territorians
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: have really tried to get out and support each other,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: traveled around the territory and you know, doing our bit
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to really to spend a bit of money locally, so
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that hopefully it means that some of our wonderful tourism
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: operators can continue to do just that operate.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly right.
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  Speaker 2: And look, a lot of the businesses have gone into
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: hibernation have been on ice. Look we're starting to see
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: some of those start to reopen, which is a good time.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: But we're spending a best time looking at focusing on
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: new experiences and new developments and a lot of businesses
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  Speaker 2: are looking at refreshing and revitalizing ready for next year.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: So look, you know it's challenging, it's difficult, but we'll
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: get through this. One of the great things about the
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: tourism industry is we can get up, brush ourselves off
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: and get.
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  Speaker 3: On with it.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Now. I do want to ask I think it would
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: be remiss of me not to ask about some of
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the issues that Alice Springs is having when it comes
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: to crime and anti social behavior. I know that even
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: on Friday last week obviously, police issued a statement after
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: a group of up to twenty youths surrounded a vehicle
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: before they allegedly and decently assaulted to women who I
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: believe were there visiting. How are things going for you
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: guys in Alice when it comes to these issues with crime.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: We're deeply concerned, Katie, around the current situation and it's
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: potential impact on the tourism industry.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: There's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 2: We've certainly been making our voice heard to the governments
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: and the government has recently launched a task Force Viper
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: down here which is about really strengthening the police efforts
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: on the street, and that's warmly welcome. But we all
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: have to get into a room together, the Yalla Springstown Council,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Government.
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  Speaker 3: All the providers, all the organizations.
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  Speaker 2: That have skin in the game here, because this is
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: not an easy issue to fix and we all have
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: to work together.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Do you feel as though that's happening at the moment
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  Speaker 1: or does more need to happen in that space?
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  Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of people with a lot
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  Speaker 3: of positive.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Interest to try and fix this issue. But I think
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  Speaker 2: more has to be done to work together and be
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: more collaborative, and that's across governments, and.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: We need to make sure that we involve the.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Relative, the relevant business associations and also all the other
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: non government organizations that have skin in.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: The game on this issue.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel for you guys because I know that
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  Speaker 1: there is so much happening in the tourism space to
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  Speaker 1: try and keep things moving. I know that there's so
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: much happening all around the Northern Territory, you know when
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: it comes to keeping business moving and supporting each other
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  Speaker 1: following on from COVID, and it's just a real shame
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that Alice Springs is going through this situation at the moment.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Oh look, it's a fair comment to say that our
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: industry feels like we're a famine going upstream against the current.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a difficult time for us, but as
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: I said in relation to COVID, our industry is resilient.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Our industry has seen challenges before, and we'll certainly work
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: through these things with our community and we'll see it
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: to the other side, but we've got to remain positive.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: We've got an amazing experience here in Central Australia and
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: you know we will certainly be yelling at from the rooftops.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: And don't forget Katie.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, the government's just about to launch the new round
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: about next week, so you have another opportunity.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: For the folk up in the top end to come
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: down and visit it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Look I love Alice Springs and I think
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: it's a wonderful place to visit. Daniel, it is always
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: great to talk to you. I always appreciate your insight.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having a chat with me this morning.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, always a pleasure.