Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chamber of Commerce NT CEO Greg Ireland says crime is a big distraction for businesses that are trying to focus on workforce issues

Transcript

Chamber of Commerce NT CEO Greg Ireland says crime is a big distraction for businesses that are trying to focus on workforce issues · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So actually joining me on the line right now is
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, Greg Island.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Greg.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Greg. Lots to talk about this morning.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: But mate, have you heard about this bush to lower
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the age of the minimum age for work to thirteen?
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: And do you reckon it had work in the end.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Well, it's been talking about for a little while, Katie,
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: and I think thirteen is getting at the limits of practicalities,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: particularly with some of the risks around going to work,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: and people do need to have an understanding of that,
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: but there are no doubt some participation that could be
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: had at a certainly a well supervised level.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: So yeah, for a.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Little bit each way on that one, and then looking
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: forward to understanding a little bit more about the conditions
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: that surround that.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it'd probably depend on the kid too to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: some degree, which I know you can't kind of go
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: by case by case basis, but you know some kids
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: would be ready to work, whereas others maybe not so
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: much and would require a lot of supervision.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, I know a couple of eighteen year olds
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: that category as well already.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right, Greg, So do I now there is
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: so much happening around the place, but I do want
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to talk about the issues of crime, which are indeed plaguing,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: you know, plaguing the Northern Territory at the moment. We
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: spoke to the Police Minister Kate Warden earlier this morning.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: She did actually outlay what the government's plans are for
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: a review into the police financials but also the structure.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: From a business perspective, how.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Is business confidence as a result of what's going on,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: not only with the force but also with crime.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look at Caya and just from a background perspective,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: we do talk with Minister Warden on a regular basis
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: and understand the challenges that they face operationally and I
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: guess politically on how that is moving forward. So and
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: we understand what process or guess is intended for the
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: future and we support that. But ultimately business is really
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: focusing on what we think is almost a Shaunami of
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: work coming our way over the next few years and
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: lasting up to a decade or two. That's a really
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: positive thing for the territory and our economy. But it
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: is the focus on getting business set up and ready
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: to take that workload on. And this is very much
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: a distraction for business that really needs to be focusing
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: on its other priorities. Yeah. Right, of course is top
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: of that list, but there are many other structural things
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: that business needs to be doing, including educating themselves on
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: the best way forward. Yeah, it's difficult to do that
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: when you're sweeping up the glass or recovering from a
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: mess that's been left from somebody breaking into your premises
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: over and over again.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, so, is that what you mean, Greg,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: that you know that people want to be able to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: get stuck into growing their workforce, They want to be
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: able to get stuck into, you know, to doing the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: work that obviously they've got their businesses set up to do.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: But this issue of crime is just continuing to rear
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: its head.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: That's exactly what we mean, Katie. It's business is very,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: very focused on that, but it's certainly difficult to keep
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: fronting up each day to clean up that mansor or
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: deal with that particular issue and then get your headspace
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: right to move forward with your other priorities. It's certainly
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: something that business doesn't need at the moment, and one
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: that we're again communicating back to the Minister and polices
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: as regularly as we can.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, And I.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Mean, what's been the feedback from your perspective to the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: minister and the police minister in that space.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: There's no doubt that everyone's understanding of the pressures and
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: the issues associated with it. We've been saying for a
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: long time now that there's no easy fix to this,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: or it would have been done. It's just one of
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: those things that we're looking to keep front of mind
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: for not only the public, but particularly in the bureaucracy,
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: that these things need constant attention whilst we continue to
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: focus on core business matters. Underneath all of.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: That is an issue that do you feel that it's
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: worse at the moment in Alice Springs and Tenant than
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: what it is in Darwin or you know, is it
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: something that's across the board.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: Look, I think from a level of impacted, it's worse
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: further south. That said, it is a problem across all
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  Speaker 3: jurisdictions and doesn't really matter where that window gets broken,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: the impact is the same. It literally happened to us
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  Speaker 3: at the chamber in our Springs night before last, and
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  Speaker 3: you know we're do only cleaning up the glass with
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: everyone else.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Greg.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: The Police Minister did say on the show this morning
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: that you know that certainly she wants to see more
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: police on the beat, more of that community engagement. From
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a business perspective, would that be a positive move?
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: It certainly is. Just you know, we support that. We're
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: looking to participate in that in various programs that we
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: can involve business in. It really does mean that you
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: as humanizing the issue on both sides of the fence,
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  Speaker 3: making sure that we don't build a bigger divide between
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  Speaker 3: the participants in all of this on both sides, and
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: people start to empathize and work with each other to
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: fix this problem. So we are supportive of that direction.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Hey, Greg.
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  Speaker 1: One of the other things that you're raised right from
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: the outset is the skills shortage or the workforce shortage.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: That we're experiencing right around the territory.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: At the moment, we know that this federal job Summit
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: is about to get underway. What are you hoping for
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the outcomes to that job summit.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: We're really looking forward to the Chief Minister putting the
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: territories best put forward in that particular summit. There is
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: not a lot of industry representation from the territory going
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: to be in that room. So we are feeding into
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: that process through various roundtables around the territory and also
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: another parts of the country. And I was in Canberra
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: last week talking to the Australian Chamber representatives that are
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: going to that summer, so we will be putting the
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: territory's position forward. What we really hope is that we
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: don't end up with a process it's going to take
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: an extended period of time to come to fruition. However,
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: we do need results now and I think this process
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: will help empower the outcomes down the track, but we
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: still need to be pushing our short term solutions with
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: the responsible ministers in Canberra.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Well, let's wait and see exactly what comes out of it. Greg,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: it is always great to talk to you. Thank you
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: so much for your time this morning.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: You're welcome.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you