Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland about getting mroe clarity around the vaccine mandate

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Katie spoke with Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland about getting mroe clarity around the vaccine mandate · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We do know. It's been reported today in the paper
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  Speaker 1: that frustrations are growing at the Territory government's implementation of
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  Speaker 1: tough new workplace vaccine laws, and the heads of two
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  Speaker 1: peak industry groups say that there's an urgent need for
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  Speaker 1: greater information and a contact point to government to answer
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  Speaker 1: questions from concerned employees after a lack of consultation. And
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  Speaker 1: one of those people joins me on the line right now.
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  Speaker 1: It's a Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, Greg Island.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Greg.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie. Greetings from null on boys.
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  Speaker 1: Oh good on you nice? Is it nice and warm
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  Speaker 1: out there?
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  Speaker 2: It's warm everywhere, I think, Katie. But we're here to
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  Speaker 2: have our business ex Sponsor and Customer Service Awards function.
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  Speaker 2: You're a null On board tonight. Oh good stuff.
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  Speaker 1: A shout out to everybody involved. I'm sure that will
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  Speaker 1: be a wonderful event.
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  Speaker 2: It'll be great for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, Greg. Obviously we know that there is quite
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  Speaker 1: a bit of frustration at this point, and you and
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  Speaker 1: I actually spoke on Monday as well about some of
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  Speaker 1: the concerns with the implementation of the new workplace vaccine laws.
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  Speaker 1: I know that both yourself, and also Dave Malone from
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  Speaker 1: Master Builders, who are going to speak with in just
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  Speaker 1: a little while, have some concerns around really that lack
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  Speaker 1: of consultation but also the lack of discussion I think
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  Speaker 1: in terms of the implementation of this mandate. Have you
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  Speaker 1: managed at this point to be able to get a
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  Speaker 1: meeting with the Chief Minister or with those staff to
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  Speaker 1: really get a very fair idea of how this is
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  Speaker 1: all going to be rolled out.
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  Speaker 2: The short answer, Katie is that we have met with
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  Speaker 2: Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade staff as well as
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  Speaker 2: the Deputy Chief Help Officer a couple of times over
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  Speaker 2: the last few weeks and those have been very positive conversations,
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  Speaker 2: really providing their detailed view of where things are intended
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  Speaker 2: to go in the future. However, we've still been seeking,
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  Speaker 2: through that particular channel, an opportunity to chat with the
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  Speaker 2: Chief about it, and we started that request prior to
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  Speaker 2: any of these health orders being announced, but also just
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  Speaker 2: to get some further detail around the scenarios that are
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  Speaker 2: going to apply, because everybody's got a different work environment
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  Speaker 2: and they're all coming up with their different questions and
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  Speaker 2: needing some clarification, and we were really seeking and been
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  Speaker 2: seeking for a while a single point of contact where
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  Speaker 2: we can get that feedback. Funnily enough, we received an
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  Speaker 2: email about an hour ago with a heap of answers
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  Speaker 2: to questions, So that's a good thing. Probably raises a
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  Speaker 2: couple more questions, so we'll be sending those back at
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  Speaker 2: some stages today, but at least there's some progress being made.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's right, And I think, you know, realistically, if
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  Speaker 1: industry is going to be enforcing this in the sense
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  Speaker 1: that they're going to need to be making sure that
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  Speaker 1: they get those vaccine certificates from employees, they're going to
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  Speaker 1: need to be storing that information, and they're going to
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  Speaker 1: need to be I guess, you know, policing to some
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  Speaker 1: degree whether somebody turns up to work who's unvaccinated, and
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  Speaker 1: how all that's going to work. A lot of these
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  Speaker 1: questions really do need to be answered, don't.
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  Speaker 2: They absolutely, Katie, and some of them there are some
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  Speaker 2: significant risks around storing of public or personal health information,
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  Speaker 2: and we're wanting and one of the answers to the
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  Speaker 2: questions that we received a short time ago is that
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  Speaker 2: the business is not required to keep copies of that documentation.
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  Speaker 2: They just need to cite it and attest to the
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  Speaker 2: fact that they've seen it. That's where we're looking for
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  Speaker 2: the technology to step in and use the checking app
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  Speaker 2: being linked to your my gub account to do that
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  Speaker 2: and take the onus of business having to keep and
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  Speaker 2: be involved in any of that information. So that's an
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  Speaker 2: important step forward, I think. But what we really need
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  Speaker 2: to know is what happens with a worker that is
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  Speaker 2: potentially in the vulnerable category but they are double vaccinated.
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  Speaker 2: There's no clarity on whether that worker remains vulnerable just
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  Speaker 2: simply because they're in that vulnerable category. So we're a
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  Speaker 2: few basic questions that need to be answered.
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  Speaker 1: Now what are some of the other I guess basic
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  Speaker 1: questions that you do need the answers to buy that
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  Speaker 1: date which has been provided.
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  Speaker 2: So with respect to the timing, we're seeing that there
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  Speaker 2: are still levels of concern within the working community about
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  Speaker 2: getting the vaccination, and I would hope that as people
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  Speaker 2: engage more with their GPS that they get further confidence
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  Speaker 2: in getting that vaccination. And we're also seeing and I
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  Speaker 2: was talking about it here a null more yesterday, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the impacts of potentially offering vouchers for people to go
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  Speaker 2: to the shop and by their groceries on the back
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  Speaker 2: of getting a vaccination, which seems to be successfully before
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  Speaker 2: I here. So there's a number of things that can
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  Speaker 2: be done to help with that process. But we really
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  Speaker 2: do need clarity around what a vulnerable worker statuses after
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  Speaker 2: they vaccinated and whether contact within a non public basing
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  Speaker 2: work environment with vulnerable people constitutes a double VACKS requirement
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  Speaker 2: because that introduces even more complexity now.
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  Speaker 1: I know yesterday when we caught up with Hospitality NTEA
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  Speaker 1: Alex Bruce has said or had said that they're conducting
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  Speaker 1: a bit of a survey at the moment amongst their
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  Speaker 1: industry to see what sort of percentage there is of
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  Speaker 1: those who don't want to be vaccinated. I believe he
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  Speaker 1: said yesterday. As of those survey results coming in it
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  Speaker 1: was at about nine percent. Is the Chamber doing anything
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  Speaker 1: similar or do you have any any sort of clear
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  Speaker 1: idea of what percentage of the workforce or members may
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  Speaker 1: be choosing to not be vaccinated.
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  Speaker 2: So we're part of an Australia wide survey with this respect, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: and those numbers aren't back to us yet, but we're
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  Speaker 2: expecting that to come in and around that sort of
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  Speaker 2: ten percent mark. We do hear that in some industries,
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  Speaker 2: though it's substantially higher. So that is obviously a concern.
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  Speaker 2: And whether that revolves around them perceived lack of risk
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  Speaker 2: or what is driving that perception is not clear at
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  Speaker 2: this point. But a survey results are still pending.
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  Speaker 1: I mean when you sort of take that into account,
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  Speaker 1: I know that obviously you got those survey results still pending,
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  Speaker 1: as did hospitality, and I'm assuming that other industries will
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  Speaker 1: be the same. But when you look at that from
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  Speaker 1: that ten percent mark, and then I guess you look
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  Speaker 1: at at the vacancy rates that we've already got in
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  Speaker 1: the territory with the workforce shortage, is it going to
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  Speaker 1: have an impact?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think in some circumstances it absolutely will. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm hoping that workplaces where flexibility does exist to place
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  Speaker 2: workers in non contact roles, then that is also an option.
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  Speaker 2: It's really going to pan out to see how what
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  Speaker 2: that looks like. But in the hospitality case, there's not
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  Speaker 2: too much that goes on that you're not dealing with
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  Speaker 2: the public, So that makes it pretty difficult in some
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  Speaker 2: industries and that's certainly going to be and so.
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  Speaker 1: So just in wrapping up Greg just to finalize, so
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  Speaker 1: I know that you've had a heap of those questions
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  Speaker 1: obviously answered by the department. Now any word on whether
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  Speaker 1: you're going to get that meeting with the chief.
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  Speaker 2: Indications are positive, so we're very hopeful that we'll be
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  Speaker 2: physically sitting with the Chief this week to just go
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  Speaker 2: through the remaining issues and hopefully what's next. I understand
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  Speaker 2: that we may be hearing from him reasonably soon about
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  Speaker 2: what's going to transpire after we get to the eighty
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  Speaker 2: percent mark, So that'll be some interesting conversation to have
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  Speaker 2: as well well.
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  Speaker 1: And it was a conversation that we're starting to have
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  Speaker 1: on the show yesterday, even earlier in the week. I
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  Speaker 1: think when you and I spoke, we know that in Queensland,
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  Speaker 1: Anastasia Palachet has announced it as of the seventeenth of December.
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  Speaker 1: You need that rapid antigen test and seventy two hours
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  Speaker 1: in terms of waiting for it to come back and
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  Speaker 1: return negative. But they will then be opening up to
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the country. Do we need a date?
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  Speaker 2: I think they would give us some certainty on what's
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  Speaker 2: going to happen next. I'm hopeful that the information that
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  Speaker 2: we hear soon will give us that level of certainty
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  Speaker 2: and something to work towards well.
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  Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Greg Island always good to
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  Speaker 1: catch up with you. Thank you very much for your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie,