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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yesterday changes to job Keeper came into play. What kind
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of impact is that going to have on Northern Territory businesses? Well,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: joining us on the line to talk more about this
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: is the Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Island.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Greg, Good morning Katie.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Now, Greg, Obviously, the job Keeper it was a real
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: game changer for businesses all around the nation, wasn't it.
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  Speaker 2: It's certainly been a lifesaver for business all over the place,
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  Speaker 2: So particularly here in the Northern Territory.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Do you have any ideas sort of how many businesses
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: had been taking advantage of or being able to utilize
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: job Keeper.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Yes, Katie, there were four thousand Territory businesses registered for
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: job Cheaper up here and individually that's supported in the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: order of seventeen eighteen thousand individual workers.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Wow, that is a lot of people that were obviously
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: being supported and it is it was absolutely essential at
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the time that it was implemented, wasn't it great?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Look, it certainly was, Katie. We would have been
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: devastated without the support from both THENT government and the
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: federal government with these survival packages and support packages.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I know a lot of businesses, quite a few
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  Speaker 1: people who were on job Keeper and was quite reliant
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: on job Keeper. There are other businesses that I suppose
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: have been able to get back on their feet, maybe
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: faster than what they'd thought they would. What's the layer
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: of the land from your perspective at the moment.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, the requalifying process for business is going to
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: mean that some businesses that have picked up and do
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: not no longer meet the criteria aren't going to get
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: that continued support, which is again going to be testing
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: for some of those businesses because whilst they may have improved,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: they certainly haven't fully recovered, so that's going to create
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: some additional pressure. But also those do still qualify having
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: those payments reduced, So if there is a gap in
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: between the payment and what they're paying workers, then there'll
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: be a bigger gap for them to cover. And if not,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: if they are not able to do that, I guess
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: that'll force them to think about exactly how many numbers
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: they do retain.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: What kind of impact do you think that it is
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: going to have on some territory businesses.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: There's certainly businesses that are more impacted than others, and
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  Speaker 2: I think that will have some concern for those business operators,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: but we also know that many of them are just
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: not going to reopen until March until we start to
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: get some tourism activity. So I think the feedback has
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: been very, very positive around the tours of outer schemes
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and we're looking forward to that, you know, being reinitiated
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: later in the year. We also had the good news
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: on the weekend around the continued support for the aviation
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: industry with regional and remote flights being supported by the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: federal government. You know, that's a great initiative to make
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: sure that we continue to have people come and visit us.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So that's going to be it's so important over the
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: green season.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is the thing, isn't it. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there's some sectors who have been hit incredibly hard, and
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: you touched on a few of those seen hospitality, aviation, tourism,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: But then there's a lot of others that are sectors
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that you may not have you know, a lot of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: us may not have realized we're so were so reliant
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: on people traveling into the Northern Territory and I guess
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: just people having a bit of spare money in their
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: pockets to spend locally.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I think that is one of the considerations, Katie.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: We're seeing that people are just making ends meet, and
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: with this reduced support, that will still continue to be challenging.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So I think we are still reliant very much on
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: local activity. So supporting local businesses through getting out there
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: and doing things on the weekends are super important, and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: we really do need to capture as much of the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: opportunity around the drive market and getting people from these
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: other areas and come to visit during this time. You
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: know they can't travel overseas, so let's get them up
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: to the territory.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, and you know this is where and
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: you touched on this before. Those tourism vouchers obviously have
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a big part to play with locals traveling within the territory.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: But then we know that the other vouchers that kick
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: in as of October are really enabling people to travel
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: from other states and territories and get a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a discount.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, when you combine that with a million dollar fish
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  Speaker 2: that were launched last night, it's a great reason to
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: encourage everyone you know to come up this way and
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: then support us during the time. I think they'll be
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: pretty keen to get out and get some fresh air
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: and experience some of their storms.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a very good point. I think that's you know,
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  Speaker 1: that million dollar fish. Everyone's hoping that it goes off
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: this year or that someone catches it. It'd be amazing,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: wouldn't it For tourism.
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  Speaker 2: What certainly would be Katie. I'll be out there trying myself.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Good on you now. Just lastly, Greg, we know that
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: that business confidence over the past year, it certainly would
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: have fluctuated. It's been a tough year, but there's been
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: some real highs and lows. It does feel as though
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: there's you know that there's more people out and about
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: at the moment in the territory. I don't know whether
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that is really the case of whether it's just sort
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: of anecdotally. People are feeling as though there's a bit
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: of a buzz in the air. How is business confidence
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: at the moment?
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  Speaker 2: I think you're right, Okatie. In certain sectors there really
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: is an error positivity moving well being more readily expressed,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: particularly construction sector and looking forward to a lot of
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: the defense projects are there, and we're working very hard
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: with the master builders to make sure the local business
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: captures as much of that opportunity as possible, and that
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: will have a flow on effect through the rest of
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  Speaker 2: the community. So, you know, some big numbers happening there.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: We just need some of these other projects and I'm very,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: very keen for the Reconstruction Commission to be supporting business
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: enabling infrastructure as part of the upcoming federal budget as
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: well as the territory budget. Yeah.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Are there certain things that you're hoping for in that
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: upcoming federal budget which is going to be handed down
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  Speaker 1: next week.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there are, Katie. I really do think that the
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: territory needs some core infrastructure so that it enables us
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: to move forward. Increasing access to remote communities is vital
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: for their economic participation. Some of those things are not
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: going to stack up from a business case point of view,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: but from a social and closing the gap perspective, I
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: think it's critical that we make some progress in those
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: areas well.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Greg Island, it's always good to catch up with you, mate.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for coming
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: on the show.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: You're most welcome.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you.