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Katie Woolf spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce on BDR for on premise · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
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  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty
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  Speaker 1: every One is Listening Mix one oh four point nine
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  Speaker 1: joining it's Live on the Line Hospitality in t CEO.
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  Speaker 1: Alex Bruce, Good morning, Alex A.
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  Speaker 2: Katie, Katy, Katy, Katy Katie. There you go.
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  Speaker 1: There, We're going to start that every time a guest
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  Speaker 1: says my name. It's mostly the police though, who say
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  Speaker 1: my name more often? We'll have to yes, we'll have
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  Speaker 1: to make a donation maybe to the It's a Blokes
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  Speaker 1: Thing Foundation, who I do plenty of work for. More Alex, mate,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about this situation with the BDR. You and
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  Speaker 1: I've spoken on numerous occasions over the last few weeks
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  Speaker 1: about the potential of the BDR being rolled out more
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  Speaker 1: broadly into licensed premises. But it's looking as though some
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  Speaker 1: good news common senses prevailed that's not going to be
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  Speaker 1: the case.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely good news from our industry's perspective, but also our
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  Speaker 2: coup and the public, as evidenced by the couple of
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  Speaker 2: surveys that were run by NT News and ourselves on
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  Speaker 2: this showing overwhelming opposition to roll out of BDR on premise.
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  Speaker 1: So how are you notified that it wouldn't be happening.
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  Speaker 2: We got a letter from the Minister for Alcohol Policy,
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  Speaker 2: and to a credit, she's been collaborating and working closely
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  Speaker 2: with us since this issue first erupted in early January,
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  Speaker 2: and in the most recent letter we got from her
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  Speaker 2: she indicated that BDR is for takeaway only. That's the
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  Speaker 2: government's position. It's not for on premise in its current form,
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  Speaker 2: and they should be writing for the Liquor Commission to
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  Speaker 2: make it clear what the overarching government policy was. So
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  Speaker 2: when we got that, we did reed a collective cybe relief.
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  Speaker 2: Quite happy that you know, we have common sense, as
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  Speaker 2: you say, could prevail on this one. You know, less
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  Speaker 2: than one in nine hundred and forty customers is on
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  Speaker 2: the BDR as a red screen, so you know, we
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  Speaker 2: really didn't want the general public and our customers to
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  Speaker 2: be further imposed. We are fully supportive of sitting around
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  Speaker 2: the table and working on approaches that target the issues.
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  Speaker 2: We know there are issues, and we're part of the
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  Speaker 2: community too. We want to be involved in doing our
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  Speaker 2: bit to address them. But Low and Behold, it's not
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  Speaker 2: just alcohol policy that can fix some of these underlying
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  Speaker 2: social problems.
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  Speaker 1: And Alex, do we know what the latest is when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to the situation in tenant create.
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  Speaker 2: Yees. So the Liquor Commission publishes later today all the
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  Speaker 2: additional submissions it's received. That will be interesting to see
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  Speaker 2: if they also put up the Minister's letter that she's
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  Speaker 2: provided them last week, then the licensees have a further
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  Speaker 2: week to finalize their submissions because apart from extending BDR
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  Speaker 2: into the pubs down there, there were a range of
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  Speaker 2: other matters that they were proposing as well. And we'll
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  Speaker 2: just sit down and respectfully work through that with the
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  Speaker 2: Liquor Commission and get to a landing that satisfies their
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  Speaker 2: need to ensure the community is safe and that alcohol
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  Speaker 2: arms that allows our businesses to get on and continue
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  Speaker 2: providing services and jobs in the Barkley.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so we'll note, look, obviously there's still it's
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  Speaker 1: still a little while away by the sounds of it
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  Speaker 1: that one.
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  Speaker 2: Look it is, but collectively across the industry we are
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  Speaker 2: happy with the leadership that the government's shown on this
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  Speaker 2: one and also do need to acknowledge not only yours
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  Speaker 2: and the papers advocacy on this, but also the opposition
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  Speaker 2: and the member for Barkley. He was quite loud and
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  Speaker 2: outspoken on this. He correctly identified, you know, why should
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  Speaker 2: the Barkley be used as guinea pigs? And we just
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  Speaker 2: knew it was tip of the iceberg and it had
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  Speaker 2: spread everywhere else anyway. So we've got a good common
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  Speaker 2: sensus outcoming through the haze of politics at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I guess for me, I just sort of
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  Speaker 1: think that, you know, if you're rolling something out more broadly,
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  Speaker 1: you've got to make sure that it's actually sort of
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  Speaker 1: having an impact to begin with. And I still think
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  Speaker 1: that realistically, we've got to have some more evidence gathered
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  Speaker 1: to sort of show us what impact it's having at
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  Speaker 1: this point.
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  Speaker 2: That's it. And I heard the Lord Mayor on your
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  Speaker 2: show just then. You know, the secondary supply it is rampant.
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  Speaker 2: The grog running is rampant. Well, legal sales on the
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  Speaker 2: BDR aren't going to stop the grog running. So, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we appreciate that the cops and others have been stretched
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  Speaker 2: quite thin because of COVID that. Yeah, once again we're
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  Speaker 2: happy to work with them. It's good to know that
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  Speaker 2: they are going to look at doing more activity. Now
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  Speaker 2: they can to try and target that secondary supply that
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  Speaker 2: even around Darwin's quite visible, you know.
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  Speaker 1: And Alex, I know that you and I have spoken
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  Speaker 1: about this before and you've said that, you know, if
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  Speaker 1: there is anybody that's actually selling alcohol, you know, to
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  Speaker 1: people that are on the BDR, then they should, you know,
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  Speaker 1: feel the full force of the law. I mean, are
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  Speaker 1: you confident that all of those outlets that are selling
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  Speaker 1: alcohol at the moment they're realistically doing the right thing?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think the data shows ninety nine point nine
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  Speaker 2: percent fails a green screen, But then that customer that's
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  Speaker 2: legitimately purchasing may ultimately be the ones that are passing
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  Speaker 2: it on to people that they shouldn't. So how does
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  Speaker 2: the retailer be held to account for that? It's hard
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  Speaker 2: to detect by its very nature, you know, it's under undercover,
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  Speaker 2: but it's really that activity that we need to get
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  Speaker 2: better at honing in on.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Hospitality NTCEEO Alex Bruce, always good to speak
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  Speaker 1: with you, mate, Thanks for your time today.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Catie, and thanks for your support on this one.
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  Speaker 1: No worries