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Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Top End General Manager Glen Hindley on those Cruise Ships · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf Thanks to Joyce Main Dowin
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  Speaker 1: Homes on Stuart Highway.
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  Speaker 2: Bear Mar joining us on the line right now. Tourism
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  Speaker 2: Top End General Manager Glenn Hinley, Good morning to you, Glenn.
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  Speaker 1: Cray, Good morning, Good morning listener.
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  Speaker 2: Glenn. Firstly, job Keeper ended yesterday. What impact is this
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  Speaker 2: going to have on our tourism operators.
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  Speaker 1: This is going to be a struggle for many of
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  Speaker 1: our tour operators today and related businesses that depend upon
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  Speaker 1: business coming to the Northern Territory. That businesses that are
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  Speaker 1: affected through no further their own, the international decisions around
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  Speaker 1: inappropriate decisions are in international borders and now ongoing hotspotters.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen yet again this morning. This is real difficulty
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  Speaker 1: for their business and for the Territorians they employ. And
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  Speaker 1: so my heart goes out to everyone who is feeling vulnerable,
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  Speaker 1: especially and also to those employers who who defer employee staff.
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  Speaker 1: These people are like their family and if they don't
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  Speaker 1: have the money coming in, how can they afford to
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  Speaker 1: pay these salaries? And that's where job Keeper was really important.
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  Speaker 1: The other thing it was always important about job Keeper
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  Speaker 1: from the get go was it just wasn't about propping
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  Speaker 1: up businesses and keeping people in jobs. It was also
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  Speaker 1: about retaining that skill in people's businesses and that skill
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  Speaker 1: set because we know that if people lost their jobs,
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  Speaker 1: some of our employees aren't longtime resident Territorians, have family
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  Speaker 1: into state, and if job Seeker was their only solution,
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  Speaker 1: then possibly they would go back into state and take
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  Speaker 1: up Job Seeker. And that's one of the great things
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  Speaker 1: that job Keeper had. Not only did it keep people
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  Speaker 1: out of employment killer cues, it kept that skill within businesses.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, and I know that Obviously the federal government's
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  Speaker 2: made a few announcements in the wake of sort of
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  Speaker 2: knowing that job Keeper is going to end. One of
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  Speaker 2: those is these half priced flights they're expected to kick off,
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  Speaker 2: as I understand it, from April one. What's the latest
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  Speaker 2: from your perspective, Glen.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that got us on the list there, Kadie.
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  Speaker 3: We're looking forward to you funny and more information. Thank you'
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  Speaker 3: a big than you do again, But at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: not a lot's known. So we've seen some public comment
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  Speaker 3: this morning from from the Federal Minister Tourism to say
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  Speaker 3: that for Darwin it wouldn't necessarily be aligned to one
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  Speaker 3: one port as it was initially rumored to be like Townsville,
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  Speaker 3: that it would be open for all intro to all
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  Speaker 3: regional ports, including big city ports. That's got to be
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  Speaker 3: a good thing for tourism. The gap that we've got
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  Speaker 3: to make up between where we were this time in
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  Speaker 3: twenty nineteen to where we are now is really big.
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  Speaker 3: But how to book it?
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  Speaker 1: What does it look like? How many are available on
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  Speaker 1: each flight? That those details were only a few days
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  Speaker 1: out and we are eager for that information. What I
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  Speaker 1: would suggest is that any and we have been working
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  Speaker 1: closely with all our tourism businesses that in all their
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  Speaker 1: social media messaging to going down South, connect with seek Different,
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  Speaker 1: the great little advertising campaign, big advertising campaign being undertaken
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  Speaker 1: by Tourism mentee, and also just to be constantly reminding
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  Speaker 1: anybody sitting at home thinking about a holiday down south
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  Speaker 1: that Darwin the top End is on one of those
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  Speaker 1: is on that list.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I agree with you. I think we've got
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  Speaker 2: to get as many people here as possible and I'm
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  Speaker 2: keen to get your take on this situation. Now with
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  Speaker 2: our expedition ships, it's looking as though millions of tourism
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  Speaker 2: dollars are now going to be lost well to wa
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  Speaker 2: as I understand it, because we're not able to have
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  Speaker 2: those cruise ships here to the territory.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Katie, this is a situation that we are as
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  Speaker 1: an industry and I think a lot of people are
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  Speaker 1: very confused about. Firstly and foremosts no one is advocating
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  Speaker 1: for cruise ships, large cruise liners to be back in business.
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  Speaker 1: We know that that's sometime off. That's not on the
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  Speaker 1: table until vaccines have taken hold across Australia and are
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  Speaker 1: doing a bit and then international. So to be clear,
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  Speaker 1: nobody's talking about cruise ships. What we are talking about
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  Speaker 1: as the Australian owned small expedition ships with Australian only
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  Speaker 1: customers that are coming in from interstate and including Territalians
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  Speaker 1: that have for decades been operating between Broom and Darwin
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of time homeporting as it's called here
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  Speaker 1: in Darwin and going out and doing it. Now, these
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  Speaker 1: customers that get on these ships, they come into daw
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  Speaker 1: and they spend a few days, They spend a lot
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  Speaker 1: of money in town. They often come up by the
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  Speaker 1: gan and fly out business class. They employ a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people. Those ships are resupplied here, marine mechanics, all
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  Speaker 1: the servicing that happens around it. And we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: businesses that in the last twelve months have done enormous
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  Speaker 1: work restructuring how they think about their business because they
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  Speaker 1: also understand that mistakenly they're all too often grouped in
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  Speaker 1: with cruise ships and it's very big difference.
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  Speaker 2: And so really, I mean, what's the difference between somebody
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  Speaker 2: getting on one of these expedition ships, these smaller ones
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  Speaker 2: within Australia with Ausi's on there. What's the difference between
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  Speaker 2: that and getting on a plane.
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  Speaker 1: That's the question that we would still like to understand
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  Speaker 1: the answer to. And I might add all of the
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  Speaker 1: managing directors of the Australian operated Expert small expedition shipping
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  Speaker 1: companies who since last year thought that they had put
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  Speaker 1: in all of the everything required into and Tea Health
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  Speaker 1: and only found out a matter of weeks ago that
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  Speaker 1: there were two conditions that were coming into play and
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  Speaker 1: that it was whilst all of Australia has that you
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  Speaker 1: can operate a small ship with one hundred passengers plus crew,
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  Speaker 1: and Tea Health has made the call and again put
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  Speaker 1: it out as a release including it into all cruise lines,
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  Speaker 1: which does makes sense to us that it's a maximum
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  Speaker 1: of one hundred people on a vessel. Now, these small
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  Speaker 1: expedition ships can't operate. It's not commercially viable for those numbers,
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  Speaker 1: and even for the one or two that can. There's
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  Speaker 1: another condition that's been put in that only two expeditions,
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  Speaker 1: only two ships can be allowed in empty waters at
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  Speaker 1: any one time. So if you've got someone coming in
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  Speaker 1: from the from the golf carpenteria and one of us
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  Speaker 1: who's not the same company coming in, then they're going
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  Speaker 1: to turn around at the Mt Waters and go back
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  Speaker 1: to cans. They're going to go back to brew. They're
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  Speaker 1: not going to come in. We're not going to see
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  Speaker 1: the jobs. And today you know one of those frontline
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  Speaker 1: companies who for such a long time has been providing
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  Speaker 1: an essential service down at Port of Darwen. He has
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  Speaker 1: twelve of his employees on job Keeper. He's been doing
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  Speaker 1: Chris and George have been the Darling born and bred.
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  Speaker 1: The boys have been doing it great for tourism. And
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  Speaker 1: today is the day that if not for expedition ships
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  Speaker 1: and job Keeper, now that they are really struggling to
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  Speaker 1: keep their business afloat and when. And I've had a
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  Speaker 1: fair bit of back and forth with Chris, trying to
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  Speaker 1: help him with his business and help this process. And
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  Speaker 1: it's just one example. I went asked the question, so
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  Speaker 1: would ex small expedition ships be able to keep those
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  Speaker 1: twelve territories employed? He says employed, I'd need to go
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  Speaker 1: out employ another ten or fifteen as well. So we
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  Speaker 1: know that this is a difference. We understand health busy.
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  Speaker 1: We respect what our choe and a Department of Health
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  Speaker 1: have done and keeping our community so safe for so long,
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  Speaker 1: and it's hard work. But when asked, also, when I
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  Speaker 1: asked the managing directors of these expedition ship companies what's
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  Speaker 1: taken place, they've said that they felt that the territory
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  Speaker 1: would be the one that would be the most professional
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  Speaker 1: and understanding and one of mean professional. Weally look into
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  Speaker 1: the detail I'm looking at on my desk here one
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  Speaker 1: of the submissions put forward by one of the shipping companings.
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  Speaker 1: It's an inch and sick of the documents have gone
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  Speaker 1: in and been reviewed by medical experts who are medical
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  Speaker 1: experts not just at a local GP level but with
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  Speaker 1: the World Health Authority, and so to be found out
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  Speaker 1: that they haven't been they in their view properly reviewed
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  Speaker 1: is a real challenge and it's a real loss. We
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  Speaker 1: know that we're looking at seven thousand Australians who are
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  Speaker 1: about to be told you thought you were coming to
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  Speaker 1: Darwin for a small expedition ship experience, you've now got
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  Speaker 1: to go to WA. And that's the other thing that
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  Speaker 1: the sounds is of all the jurisdictions that have been
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  Speaker 1: actively chasing this has been WA. Yeah, and they're the
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  Speaker 1: ones who are really opening it up now on this.
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  Speaker 1: But the not going to effect here is really big.
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  Speaker 1: And can I say too, you know again situations like
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  Speaker 1: what's happening and unfolding in Queensland today that those people
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be allowed to get on these ships. That's you know,
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  Speaker 1: as they're allowed to get on planes, is they're not
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  Speaker 1: allowed to come and stay in hotels or stay with
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  Speaker 1: territorians in their homes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right. So there's already those measures in place. Glenn.
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  Speaker 2: We have got the Tourism Minister on the show tomorrow morning,
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  Speaker 2: as I understand it, so we will certainly put your
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  Speaker 2: concerns to her. Unfortunately, we're going to have to leave
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  Speaker 2: it there. We always appreciate your time. I'm Glenn. Thank
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  Speaker 2: you very much for having a chat with us this morning, Kady.
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  Speaker 1: And thank you for your interest. Thank you very much,
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  Speaker 1: thank you.
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  Speaker 2: That is tourism top end General manager there, Glenn Hinley