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Katie Woolf spoke with Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line though, to talk about
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: how businesses are going and the way that they're pivoting
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: in Lockdown is Greg Island, the CEO of the Chamber
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: of Commerce.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Greg, Good.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Morning Katie, Morning everyone listening.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Greg.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: How are some of our territory businesses feeling this morning?
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of them are sitting at home
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: twiddling their films, Katie and then really would love to
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: be out there doing business, but we're in a situation
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: where that's not always possible.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Now. I don't know if you heard our catch up
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: with the Health Minister just a little while ago, but
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you know we'd sort of ask some for the questions
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: about the testing regime for international travelers coming into the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory. We know that this latest case is somebody
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: who tested positive on day seventeen. Unfortunately, then you know
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: he's traveled around a little bit in the territory to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Catherine as well.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: We then realize that he's positive.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm not saying this blog's done anything wrong, because
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the rules the way that they are at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem that he has. But do we need
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to look at doing things differently? So we don't plunge
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: thousands of Territorians into a lockdown when maybe you know,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: he could have stayed in quarantine a bit longer and
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: we could avoid this situation.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: It's certainly a difficult one, is an Akkadian, and I
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: think we're going to be in a situation where we're
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: continuing to learn from these errors as they do occur.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: You're right, all the protocols seem to have been followed.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: It's hard to say whether this gentleman entered quarantine with
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the virus or whether he can contracted it during that stay,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: in which case Day seventeen might have actually been day twelve.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Who knows.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, there is still so much for us
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to learn at this point in time.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Greg.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Just to go back to those businesses and how they're
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: going this morning, you said that there's probably a lot
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: of them at home twiddling their thumbs. How big a
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: loss is it for some of our businesses that three days?
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, to me, three days, I still
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: can go to work, and you know, I'm in a
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: lockdown obviously when I get home, but it doesn't change
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: my life a huge amount. For a business owner, it's
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: pretty catastrophic i'd imagine, Oh, look.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: It absolutely is. We're still very much in our peak season.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: We know that we've had significant numbers of tourists in
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: town despite lockdowns in other areas. We know historically that's
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: worth many millions of dollars a day. So you add
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: that together with every other industry that's now we impacted,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: and we are talking about a substantial amount of money
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: for the one person. As you pointed out earlier.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Now, I know that some businesses have been able to
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: pivot and do different things.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Some of those are, obviously are the ones that are
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: allowed or able to do takeaway or click and collect.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: How has that been going, you know, for those businesses
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: that are.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Able to do that, Yeah, we've probably reasonably well practiced
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: that they're dropping into takeaway mode. I know I certainly
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: took advantage of the cancelation of the hospitality NT Gold
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: played awards last night and went down and got some
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: of their meals that were excess. We also were aware
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: of a number of others that went straight into takeaway mode.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: So that's all good. Click and collect is there for
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: certain industries, but it's certainly not there for everybody. So
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: we've been talking with government about broadening the capability of
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: businesses to operate in a click and collect mode. But yeah,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: those are changes that were certainly keen for government to
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: adopt as soon as practically possible.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: What would they look like, Greg, what kind of changes
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: are you talking about.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: The majority of the larger stores such as Harvey Norman
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  Speaker 3: and those other larger retailers, as well as many other
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: smaller businesses, are capable of running click and collect services,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: but they are not currently on the essential list. To
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: see that bartoned so that those businesses can take opportunity
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: of consumer needs during these times.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I had actually seen this on social media yesterday.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: One of our wonderful florists had been shut down again
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  Speaker 1: after initially being told that they were able to provide
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  Speaker 1: a click and collect is my understanding, I know that
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you know that some would say, all right, well, the
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: florist isn't deemed essential, but if they are still able
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to operate without being in close contact with anybody and
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  Speaker 1: provide that click and collect service, surely that would be
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: a good thing to keep the territory moving.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's been the point of our discussion with government
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  Speaker 3: around maximizing the opportunities for as many people as we can.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: We understand that the Chief help Officer wants to keep
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: moving to a minimum and that's fine, But as you say,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: if we can do that safely, why not do it? Now?
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  Speaker 2: What support?
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  Speaker 1: I know that the government has made an announcement around
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: some of the support that is going to be available.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: We'll be catching up with Paul Kirby, the Minister for
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Small Business in about fifteen minutes time. But Greg, what
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: kind of support mechanisms are available for our business operators
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: who aren't actually able to operate over this lockdown?
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Well, the government has switched back on the thousand dollar
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: payment that was available for business last time. And if
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: you call apifter that by earning over seventy five thousand
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: dollars a year and under ten million, then you fit
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: their criteria and you can apply straight away. There was
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: something like two hundred and twenty businesses and took advantage
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: of that. Makes two hundred businesses took advantage of that
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: last time, so I can expect the numbers to be
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: pretty similar. But there is talkers some other support packages,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: but at this point we don't have the details of
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: what they might look like.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Well, well, like I said, we will catch up with
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the Minister in a little while. One of the questions
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that we get asked all the time when well, last
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: lockdown and then this lockdown, we've already had about five
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: people last this morning. Is there anything available for those
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: who were under seventy five thousand?
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: To my knowledge, no, there's not. And then you know,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: the intent is that three days is not hopefully a
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: period that's going to create that issue for those smaller
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: contractors that are out there. But I know many of
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: them are certainly feeling pain and carrying the brunt of
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: these lockdowns from a financial perspective. So that's where we're
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: talking to government about broadening that. And I believe that
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: there's been some opportunities for the federal government to get
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: involved in support on the Eastern seaboard, and they should
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: look at doing the same thing here.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Greg, lots of Territorians out there listening this morning, you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of people wondering how they can still try
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: to support business through what's a pretty tough time. What
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: is your message for everybody? Is it come and buy
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: some takeaway? What can we do to help each other
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  Speaker 1: out here?
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Look, that's certainly a good starting point. You get out
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: there and support as many local businesses as you can.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: It's a little bit challenging during these three days, but
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: once we can get out about again, keep going to
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: your local businesses, keep supporting them, and that will certainly
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: help get them through these tough times.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Greg.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Just finally, I know that it's been reported today in
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the Cans Post in Queensland that a vaccine passport's a
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: step closer for Queenslanders after the Palachet government dramatically mandated
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: precedent setting COVID jabs for workers crossing the border. Now
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the Premiere, Anastasia Palachet issued well. She issued this change
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: on Monday, saying that all essential workers wanting to cross
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the border from Friday would have to have had at
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: least one coronavirus shot. Experts say that the move could
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: be the start of a new way of life where
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: people will need proof of vaccination to travel and other
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: everyday events such as going to a restaurant, concert or
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: football match. Do you think that this is going to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: be something we need to look at for the territory.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've chatted about this one before, Katie, and the
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Chamber certainly supports the fact that we need to make
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: living the safest possible for everyone concern and I think
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: it is going to form part of our new life
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: moving forward. There's still some debate around the technicalities of that,
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: but I think if we see it adopted and other
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: jurisdictions will certainly be certainly seriously considering it. Picking you,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: I think it's going to be the way of the future.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Well, it's always good to catch up with you. Greg Island,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce CEO. Thanks so much for your time
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: this morning, mate. I hope you're at traveling okay in Lockdown.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: I'm doing well, Katie, but thinking about all the others
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: that are really struggling out there.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Thanks so much, Greg. We'll talk to you soon.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: See you later.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: That's Greg Ireland there, the CEO of the Chamber of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Commerce