Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Cattlemen's Association CEO Will Evans explains the role of the new NT Logistics Advisory Council

Transcript

NT Cattlemen's Association CEO Will Evans explains the role of the new NT Logistics Advisory Council · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yesterday, as we understand it, the inaugural meeting of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Logistics Advisory Council was held. Now it was
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: established to provide some expert advice to the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: government on maximizing the effectiveness of the territory's supply chains.
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  Speaker 1: It is an area which has no doubt been tested
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  Speaker 1: over recent years, not only with COVID, but also floods
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  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the year and also that damage
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  Speaker 1: to the Stuart Highway. I think most of us can
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  Speaker 1: recall going into supermarkets not actually being able to sort
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of purchase what you usually would. So while we may
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  Speaker 1: not be experiencing those shortages right now, I do think
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  Speaker 1: that it is a good thing for us to go
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  Speaker 1: through this process and make sure that we obviously have
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  Speaker 1: that food and fuel security now. According to the government,
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  Speaker 1: it's also about supporting the territory's industry and economic growth
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  Speaker 1: as well as increasing capacity and reducing risk. Now joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us more about the
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  Speaker 1: council and the first meeting. One of the members of
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  Speaker 1: the council is Will Evans, the CEO of the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory Sttleman's Association. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Will morning Katie, thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 1: You're good to have you on the show. Now tell
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  Speaker 1: me a little bit more about from your perspective, why
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  Speaker 1: this Logistics Advisory Council was established.
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  Speaker 2: It's obviously been a recommendation to government that this group
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  Speaker 2: of people be brought together. It's certainly welcomes by us,
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  Speaker 2: and I think it's welcomed by a number of the
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  Speaker 2: industry sectors around the territory. We have managed to attract
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  Speaker 2: some experson around the country as well who can assist
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  Speaker 2: us in the prioritizing what we need to be doing.
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  Speaker 2: And look, I would like to say I think the
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  Speaker 2: government's done well in pulling this together and I thought
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  Speaker 2: the group of people was a good start.
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  Speaker 1: And how did that first meeting go yesterday, Will, And
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  Speaker 1: what are some of the some of the concerns that
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  Speaker 1: were discussed.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that the biggest challenge for all of
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  Speaker 2: us is that regional infrastructure is so important to the territory.
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  Speaker 2: The reality is infrastructure spending is normally decided. This is
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  Speaker 2: a very simplistic explanation. It's normally decided on the greatest
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  Speaker 2: spending to the greatest group of people and because there
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  Speaker 2: aren't a lot of people who live in the regions,
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  Speaker 2: it's quite challenging to prioritize regional spending. So for all
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  Speaker 2: of us, I think it was really important that we
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  Speaker 2: have a strategic approach to how we do tackle these
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  Speaker 2: sorts of issues, and certainly something that the industry associations
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  Speaker 2: share a view on, and it's something that we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about yesterday, and.
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  Speaker 1: I know that you know, we sort of experienced it,
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  Speaker 1: as I mentioned in the opener earlier in the year,
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  Speaker 1: with the infrastructure well, with the roads being cut and
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  Speaker 1: damage to the roads following on from some of that flooding.
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  Speaker 1: How big an impact did those incidents have on us
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  Speaker 1: being able to transport and get things in and out
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  Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: I think it shows how fragile supply changes can be.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the reality is, you know, we've got one
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  Speaker 2: really big road that's really important and then a lot
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  Speaker 2: of other roads that are important to have, but we
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  Speaker 2: often don't appreciate it until something like that happened. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the Barkley Highway became the lifeline for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: We had to reroute trucks from South Australia all the
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  Speaker 2: way through New South Wales and up into Queensland to
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  Speaker 2: get things to the territory, so people were able to
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  Speaker 2: have that sort of security. So it shows that we
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  Speaker 2: are quite exposed, but it's something you'd expect for an
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  Speaker 2: area of the size of the territory. It's very hard
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  Speaker 2: to I guess, have a multitude of really important supply chains.
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  Speaker 1: We need to focus on the ones that we have
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  Speaker 1: and well, what is the charter of the Advisory Council
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  Speaker 1: and what sort of work I guess is the Council
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  Speaker 1: hoping to do to try to future proof ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's important that we have. I think
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  Speaker 2: what we're looking at is how do we make the
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  Speaker 2: most out of advocating for funding from a federal level
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  Speaker 2: and how do we make sure everyone's on the same
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  Speaker 2: page in terms of what our strategic priority is. Now,
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  Speaker 2: there's always going to be a little bit of tilling
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  Speaker 2: and going between different industries around what's the most important thing.
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  Speaker 2: But I think this is a good first step in
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  Speaker 2: trying to address some common challenges for.
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  Speaker 1: All of us now. Well, on one of the topics
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  Speaker 1: that you and I spoke about last time, You're on
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  Speaker 1: petrol prices. How big an impact of those having on
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  Speaker 1: you guys right now?
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  Speaker 2: It's huge. It's really it's a massive challenge to the industry,
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  Speaker 2: and I think petial prices are something that is going
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  Speaker 2: to be a challenge for everybody. The reality is we're
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  Speaker 2: seeing those prices translated into what we're able to buy
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  Speaker 2: on the shelves and how expensive the things on the
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  Speaker 2: shelves are. So for us on stations, it's very challenging
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  Speaker 2: because we obviously run a lot of things off generators,
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  Speaker 2: including the stations themselves. So for us, it's having quite
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  Speaker 2: a big impact. But it's not something we see a
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  Speaker 2: resolution to anytime soon.
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  Speaker 1: No, it certainly feels that way. I mean, has there
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  Speaker 1: been much of a change from your perspective or from
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  Speaker 1: the Cattleman's Associations perspective following on from the ending of
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  Speaker 1: that exercise.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Look, it's something that's certainly bitten us. We've
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  Speaker 2: been talking at a federal level around trying to see
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  Speaker 2: it reinstated or a version of a reinstated, but I
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  Speaker 2: think there's competing priorities in the budget at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: and obviously we're probably not in the stronger decision as
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  Speaker 2: we would like to be, So those sorts of things
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  Speaker 2: are going to be on the agenda now.
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  Speaker 1: We were just speaking to the opposition leader Leaf andoki
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  Speaker 1: Are and you may not have heard it, but they're
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  Speaker 1: obviously trying to push for this fuel disclosure bill to
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  Speaker 1: go forward in the Northern Territory Parliament next week. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not sure do you think that that would have much
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  Speaker 1: of an impact when it comes to industry groups such
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  Speaker 1: as the Cattleman's Association or is it sort of too
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  Speaker 1: early to tell.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably too early to tell. I'd want to see
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  Speaker 2: the detail of it. It's something that I think people
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  Speaker 2: in urban areas would potentially appreciate. I'm not sure. But
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  Speaker 2: for us, I mean, we're such big buyers of fuel,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure it'll do much to address our sort
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  Speaker 2: of issues. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, well, foot and Mouth. I mean last time and
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  Speaker 1: you were on air with us, we spoke extensively about this.
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  Speaker 1: How are things tracking in this space?
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  Speaker 2: Look, we've been able to get a couple of million
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  Speaker 2: of doses now into Indonesia. We're at the Australian government's
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  Speaker 2: giving them some really good support in terms of delivering
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  Speaker 2: those doses to regional areas. From a domestic setting, we've
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  Speaker 2: gone through a long process of I guess policy development
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: around what our response looks like. We're now emerging out
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  Speaker 2: of that and we're finally getting into the point in
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  Speaker 2: time we were able to go out to industry and
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  Speaker 2: say this is what the plant looks like. But it's
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  Speaker 2: been a very involved process. You know, we have to
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  Speaker 2: get the endorsement and support of all of the states
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  Speaker 2: and territories, plus all of the different industry groups that
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: would be affected by an outbreak. So it's taken us
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  Speaker 2: quite a lot of time. But as of this week,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have our staff on the roads, going
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  Speaker 2: out of the stations and starting to do extension materials.
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  Speaker 2: So we finally got to that point where we're going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to actually get on the properties and
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  Speaker 2: say this is exactly what the plant looks like. It's
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  Speaker 2: been a very long road.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah right, it sounds like it's been quite a complicated process.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't all agree. I think is probably the
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  Speaker 2: way I term it. But a lot of the power,
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  Speaker 2: similar to COVID and the way that government handed the
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  Speaker 2: outbreaks in different ways, a lot of the power remain
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  Speaker 2: invested in the states and territories, which is something that
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  Speaker 2: we were very supportive of. Yeah, I think we've got
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  Speaker 2: to that point now where we can see a pathway through.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, And well, what about those sort of biosecurity
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  Speaker 1: measures that were at the airports and you know when
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  Speaker 1: you arrive from the lights of Balley. I know that
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  Speaker 1: you and I had been speaking about that a few
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  Speaker 1: months back. Are they still in place and are they working?
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  Speaker 1: From your perspective, I think that they are still.
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  Speaker 2: In place, and I think there is a height and
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  Speaker 2: understanding of people around the importance of this. It's certainly
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  Speaker 2: something that made its way into the general public and
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  Speaker 2: it's something that needs to stay there. The reality is
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  Speaker 2: this threat is going to be a threat for quite
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  Speaker 2: a pretty long period until we're able to get the
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  Speaker 2: situation under control in Indonesia. But yeah, I think we did.
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  Speaker 2: Down south, there was some orders to the airports to
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  Speaker 2: check by security metrics and measures, and I think they
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  Speaker 2: went quite well. We're obviously very supportive of the same
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  Speaker 2: thing happening in the territory and they continued to focus
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  Speaker 2: on biosecurity for all travelers.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, NT Cattleman's Association Will Evans always good to
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  Speaker 1: catch up with you mate. We appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Not a problem, Thanks Catie, thank you.