Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce says government grants for crowd controllers at licensed venues is a welcome three-month stop gap

Transcript

Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce says government grants for crowd controllers at licensed venues is a welcome three-month stop gap · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, we did get a statement from the Northern Territory
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: government a bit earlier this morning saying that takeaway liquor
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: outlets trading in the Northern Territory can now access government
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: support to engage crowd control services during its permitted liquor
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: operating hours. So the crowd control assistance granted is going
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to provide immediate financial support to take away liquor outlets
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: who are experiencing anti social behavior within their premises or
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: have been impacted by crime. And this announcement follows on
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: it was obviously initially announced about a week or so ago,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: following on from the tragic situation which saw the death
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of Declan Lavity now joining me on the line to
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  Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about this crowd control funding
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  Speaker 1: and how it's potentially going to work. From Hospitality NT
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  Speaker 1: the CEO, Alex Bruce, Good morning to you, Alex.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Good morning kety Alex.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: These takeaway liquor outlets trading in the Northern Territory now
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: able to access crowd control services or to engage this
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  Speaker 1: support service.
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  Speaker 3: How's it going to work from your perspective, It's.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: A bit of good news today. We know that no
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: one measure is going to magically fix it. But this
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: was one that some of the industry went to government
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  Speaker 2: on very early on after unfortunately that tragic outcome at
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: airport BWS. And it's important to know that there's a
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: bit of a difference between a static security guard and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: you can think that you've seen some of those in
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: and around the shopping centers, in and around some of
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  Speaker 2: the corporate chained bottle shops in the past and still continuing.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Crowd controllers are something that our late night venues, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the old bounces the industry very professional and come a
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  Speaker 2: long way since then. But yeah, you'd come into contact
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  Speaker 2: with our crowd controllers along Mitchell Street at a late
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  Speaker 2: late late night a venue. So it's people that are
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  Speaker 2: highly trained in verbal de escalation, you know, always that
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: is the preference to the talk out of aggressive situations
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  Speaker 2: when faced with a customer that's out of control. But
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  Speaker 2: also they are equipped with those skills to man handle
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  Speaker 2: you out of venues. You know, you could just think
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  Speaker 2: of some of those you may have seen later at night.
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  Speaker 2: So as a temporary measure, it is just a three
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: month stop gap that the government's committed to backdated to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the data that announcement on that Wednesday, the first week
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  Speaker 2: after the tragedy through till thirtieth of June. So they've
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  Speaker 2: opened the grant today, which is good. They had been
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  Speaker 2: able to tell us ahead of time, you know, have
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  Speaker 2: some certainty please go out there, and anyone that wants
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: to do that to provide the support and safety to
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: their staff and their customers go forth, because it would
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: be backdated to the announcement of the Chief Minister on
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: that Wednesday morning. So they've wanted that, which is really good.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And so you're already seeing more presence in and around
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  Speaker 2: our networks. Obviously, every different business makes their own decisions
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  Speaker 2: in that regard, but yeah, hopefully we can instill some
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: some safety and and calm down, you know, the legitimate
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: concerns that our staff and customers have had with some
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: of the horrific incidents that were leading up to that
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  Speaker 2: very very horrible outcome.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I hadn't sort of realized that it was a
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  Speaker 1: situation where it wasn't just like that static security that
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: stands outside, but more so, like you've said, there those
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  Speaker 1: that are that are trained in crowd control, Alex, I
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  Speaker 1: guess the question that you know that that for some
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: of those outlets. They might be wondering at this point
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  Speaker 1: is how much money is going or how much you know,
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  Speaker 1: are they eligible to sort of apply for in terms
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: of you know, financials or even in terms of the
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: hours I suppose.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all the details are on the department's website now
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  Speaker 2: only if you just Google search you know, crowd control
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  Speaker 2: Assistant grant, it does come up. It went live this morning.
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  Speaker 2: I don't really want to talk numbers, but it's all
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  Speaker 2: there for anyone that wants to have a look at it.
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  Speaker 2: Because a lot of the smaller venues may probably will
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: outsource to private security firms. So you know that there's
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: a bit of commercial about what it is, but it's
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  Speaker 2: there in terms of transparency for your listeners about what
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: the hourly support is, what kind of businesses are eligible,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: which ones aren't, And the activity is very much about
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  Speaker 2: and you'll have to prove that you're putting them on.
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  Speaker 2: It's about when the bottle shops are open, when the
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  Speaker 2: takeaway service is open. It's not to protect the assets
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  Speaker 2: after hours from break ins. That's something else.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So it is just literally the hours that
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  Speaker 1: you're open so that you can make sure that staff
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  Speaker 1: and indeed customers are safe.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just trying to.
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  Speaker 1: Open that website now, Alex, But it sounds as though
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  Speaker 1: this will be something I'm assuming that is welcomed to
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  Speaker 1: buy those takeaway out let's.
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  Speaker 3: What's the feedback been so far?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, pretty good from the data the announcement two weeks ago.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've been fielding calls every day saying when
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: can we get more detail about this? So we're happy
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: that it's out there. We're happy that it's out there
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: before Easter, and you know, we do appreciate when we
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: spoke to you probably a week or so a bit
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  Speaker 2: more plus on this. You know, there was an announcement
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: very quickly by the government. It was something that they
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  Speaker 2: could do quite immediately, but then obviously appreciate that then
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  Speaker 2: they have to put it into the agencies and they
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  Speaker 2: have to do all the right work to make sure that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, all the due process, and this is tax
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  Speaker 2: payers money at the end of the day, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we've got to make sure that it's got the right
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  Speaker 2: riggor around it. So, you know, we would have liked
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  Speaker 2: to see this out sooner, but we're happy that it
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  Speaker 2: is one of the measures. I don't want people to
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  Speaker 2: think that we're hanging a hat on this solely and
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  Speaker 2: you are seeing as I kin, that original press release
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  Speaker 2: on that Wednesday threw a lot of thought bubbles out
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  Speaker 2: there that the government was willing to work on. And
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  Speaker 2: now now there's mad work by many people behind the
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  Speaker 2: scenes to put bones on the scale, to put meat
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  Speaker 2: on the skeleton. You know.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and I'm just looking now, So forty five
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  Speaker 1: dollars an hour for each contracted crowd controller over the
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: next next few months. Those elegia businesses obviously grocery stores
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: with liquor licenses, bars and clubs with attached bottle shop
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  Speaker 1: and takeaway liquor outlets as well. Alex has been discussion
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: about whether we should actually have palis on bottle shops
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  Speaker 1: in the top end like we see in Central Australia.
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  Speaker 3: What do you make of that discussion?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's difficult. There is nothing stopping pallies across
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  Speaker 2: the network. It's not like it's exclusively just a regional solution.
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  Speaker 2: They've got the police have the powers under the Act
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  Speaker 2: to do it territory wide. They obviously see biggest bang
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  Speaker 2: for their buck getting complete coverage in towns like Catherine
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  Speaker 2: Tennant and Alice. It is the case that if you
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: don't get full coverage in a town, they're largely ineffective.
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  Speaker 2: So what I mean by that, you know, there's nine
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  Speaker 2: takeaway outlets in Alice Springs. If they only manage to
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  Speaker 2: mount a guard of the bottle shops with police general duties,
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  Speaker 2: if there aren't enough pallies on seven of those outlets,
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  Speaker 2: the other two spike on the day whips around very quickly.
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  Speaker 2: Now they're they're they're legal, they're they're they're passing the intops,
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  Speaker 2: they're passing the green screen BDR and they're getting served.
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  Speaker 2: So it is a tricky one that I've seen the
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  Speaker 2: Council's submission to the Liquor Act, and we did meet
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: with the mayor. He's right, and we're working through the issues.
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  Speaker 2: We'll agree to disagree on many of them, but we
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  Speaker 2: do want to be part of the part of the
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  Speaker 2: solution and we know we've got a role to play
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: in that regard. So we're meeting with the Mayor and
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  Speaker 2: Luccio out in Palmerston tomorrow as well, and we've been
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  Speaker 2: feeding in our submissions to the Chief Men's Department, who's
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  Speaker 2: conducting the Liquor Act right now, the review, So you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think that is the appropriate way for us to
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  Speaker 2: all on evidence based policy try and land some of
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  Speaker 2: these things. But some of the commentary is just a
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  Speaker 2: bit too simplistic. That gets thrown out right now, and
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  Speaker 2: we'd prefer that mature conversation because I know your listeners
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  Speaker 2: know this. You know, I feel like they keep tightening
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  Speaker 2: the rules for supply. Clearly there are other issues, and
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  Speaker 2: in fact those issues are getting worse. So we need
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  Speaker 2: to run a ruler over everything. But I'm not here
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  Speaker 2: to throw stones in any of that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, everybody, I guess you know.
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  Speaker 1: The thing is at this point, everybody actually is genuinely
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  Speaker 1: trying to work together to have some impact here because
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  Speaker 1: things have been so tough. And the fact is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: if we're so many police officers down, how on earth
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  Speaker 1: would we actually have Pallyis on bottle shops. It'd be
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  Speaker 1: an incredibly difficult situation. But Alex, you know, the other
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  Speaker 1: thing that's sort of been raised with us over recent
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  Speaker 1: days and the last week or so is some of
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  Speaker 1: the measures that are coming into place. You know, if
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  Speaker 1: things like the BDR and the floor price were working,
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  Speaker 1: why do we need those measures. I mean, you and
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  Speaker 1: I have spoken on numerous occasions about the BDR. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think there's going to be any kind of change
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  Speaker 1: to the BDRs as that alcohol review, you know, as
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  Speaker 1: they go.
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  Speaker 3: Through all of that.
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  Speaker 2: We hope so, and we think so, Katie, and you
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  Speaker 2: know so years we've been saying, make the BDR better
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: or get rid of it. The tech solution has been
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: better in terms of processing time, so we don't have
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  Speaker 2: as much concern about the time it takes as part
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  Speaker 2: of our transaction when we're serving you in our bottle shops.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, before we start calling for it to
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  Speaker 2: be expanded on premise or any other things, or it
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  Speaker 2: should be loaded with all these other things, they've got
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  Speaker 2: to make it more better. The sobering up shilters that
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  Speaker 2: do quite a good job. They've got lists that range
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  Speaker 2: into the hundreds and thousands almost of people that are
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  Speaker 2: banned from going to the sobering Up Shields because they've
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  Speaker 2: been too violent there. And at the moment they don't
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  Speaker 2: integrate the names on those lists with the BDR. You know,
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  Speaker 2: some of this stuff is paid by numbers. Almost everyone's
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: got a role to play. NGO's government industry police. We've
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  Speaker 2: just got to get back to doing it. And you know,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: you talk about we need it to manage it, like
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the crisis of the pandemic. I'm not sure about that
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  Speaker 2: because because we focus solely on one issue for two
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: years to the exclusion of all others, that's contributed to
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: where we are. You know, like many balls have being
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: dropped because the focus hasn't been put on our space.
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  Speaker 2: At least I'm aware of that, and I think if
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: you look at all service delivery across government, you can
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: say that. So I look at it and I just say, look,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: we've got to be honest about it all. There is
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: some stuff that needs to be picked up by others
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: in the space. It's not always the bottle shop to blame.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And we're up for that honest conversation. But then you know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: it's not a one week issue. You've got to then
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: keep the Bunsen burner under these people, otherwise I'll go
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: back to just being biscuit eaters. Katie.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, Alex, you always come through with the goods, mate,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: with a few one liners there that our listeners enjoy.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Alex Bruce, I always appreciate your time. Thank you very much,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: for having a chat with us this morning and have
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: a great Easter.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah you too. Ecuse Katie, thank you.