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Katie Woolf spoke with Master Builders NT CEO Dave Malone · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's take a bit of a change of pace and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: talk more well still about the COVID situation, but about
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the impact that it is having on our building and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: construction industry. Now we know that the snap lockdown announced
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: by the Chief Minister on Sunday, well, Master Builders say
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: it introduced a new world for the building and construction
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: industry in the Greater Darwin region. Throughout the pandemic. To date,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the industry had been classed as an essential service and
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: it does remain the case for the rest of the country.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: But on this occasion they didn't enable our construction and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: building industry to continue to work. They weren't deemed essential. Now,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the Master Builders conducted a survey this week to find
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: out just how big an impact it has had on
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the industry. And joining me on the line right now
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: is Master Builders Int. CEO Dave Malone. Good morning to you, Dave.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you too, Katie.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad? Dave? Talk us through
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the results of this survey. As I understand it, six
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: percent were forced to stand people down.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Is that right? That's absolutely right, And we were just
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: keen to know, since we'd never been locked down before,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: what sort of impact it would have on our industry.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: That's the only way that we can then sit down
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: with government and have a conversation about how do you
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: deal with that? And we went out on Tuesday night
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and we closed off by lunchtime on Thursday, so a
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: really really short time window. But the feedback was overwhelmingly
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: that sixty seven percent of firms and stood people down.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Another fourteen percent eiderstood people down and redeployed staft are
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the tasks. So the industry has reacted as you would expect.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I suppose that you can't do construction work from home.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: You've got to go on site somewhere to do it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: And with no work around, companies were left with no
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: choice but to put their people off.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: And just to delve a bit further into some of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: those numbers, so forty six well, firstly, how many businesses
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: or how many took part in this survey days?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: So I was a snap survey, so we only go
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: people thirty six hours, but we got one hundred and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: fifty responses in a period about thirty six hours in
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the middle of a COVID lockdown. So we actually think
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: that's a really strong response from businesses that were spread
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: right across the industry, so it wasn't just one sector,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: you know, whether it was residential or commercial, civil, the
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: R and M sector, and professional services, they all came
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: back very quickly.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: And large, by the sounds of it, large and beyond
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: it sort of. It does sound as though this lockdown
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: has had a big impact on our construction industry, which
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: you would anticipate given the fact that you've not been
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: able to work.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know, it affects both workers and their
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: employers as well. And we asked employers, for example, you know,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: if the lockdown was to continue today, and remember we
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: were asking this from Tuesday night, so we had no
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: idea where we were going at that particular point, and
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: we still don't know, I suppose today, but fifty one
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: percent of the firm said they are very worried about
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: an extended lockdown in terms of their viability, and a
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: sizable proportion of people also said they were concerned about
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: their viability that they actually didn't know where they'd make
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: it if the lockdown continued past today.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Goodness may so what you know, what are you guys
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: hoping for today? Obviously hoping that that lockdown is lifted
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and that you'll be able to get back to work.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's the key to it. You know that we're
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: not the only industry where when there's a lockdown you
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: just stop work. But you know, our industry is really
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: well Katie that people use their leave for example, in
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: between projects. It's you know, you've got discrete projects today
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: and then nothing for a couple of days, so you
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: use your leave and then you move on to the
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: next project. So you know the claim that some people
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: make that people should just use their leave to carry
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: them through this lockdown, well, it's just not a practical
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: option for many many construction workers, they pretty much live
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: from project to project, and a lockdown like we're seeing
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: now hurts them a great deal. And I think that's
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: one of the reasons why when you look around the
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: rest of the country you still see construction operating.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, you know, I think that everybody is
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: waiting to hear exactly what happens. In about forty minutes
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: is when we're anticipating that we're going to find out more,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I suppose, but gee, I hope that we're able to
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: at least see some of you know, some kind of
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: way forward. I suppose that's A big thing at this
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: point is that communication and making sure that industry knows
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: what's next.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: The key thing for us is that the entire industry
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: is part of the community, and we understand the reason
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that the health officials would take the steps that they take.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: You know, we all want to be in a situation
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: where we can live as free from COVID as we can,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: but you can be more nuanced and how you respond
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: to things. Our industry runs on very sophisticated safety plans,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: for example, so COVID's been part and parcel of those
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: plans for a year and a half now. So I
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: don't think we have to use the sledge hammer to
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: shut entire industries down. We need to move very much.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: If we're going to continue lockdowns like this, it's got
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: to be risk based and where people can manage those risks,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: then we should be able to continue the economic activity
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: in the community.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Now, Dave, if we do get the go ahead at
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: one o'clock today or at eleven o'clock, if we get
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: told that things are able to open back up by
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: one o'clock and the lockdown is lifting, how quickly can
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the construction and building sector get moving.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: As quickly as they can find out. There is no
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: doubt that people are absolutely itching to go, and if
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: we can get the message out straight away, then you'd
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: probably see people on site by late this afternoon without
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: a doubt. Yeah, it's just a question of getting the
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: message out. I mean we're talking, you know, more than
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: a thousand firms and eight and a half thousand workers
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: in the greata Dal area. We can get the message
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: out quickly, but I'll just take a little time.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Well, Dave Malone, a Master Builders CEO. Always good to
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: speak with you. I appreciate your time today.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, good to talk to you.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you.