Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Ruth Palmer from the Property Council about the waning Norther Territory population

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Katie spoke with Ruth Palmer from the Property Council about the waning Norther Territory population · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So we're going to take a bit of a change
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  Speaker 1: of pace. We know the Northern Territory Property Council has
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: expressed fears that the Northern Territory could lose population once
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  Speaker 1: it reopens to the rest of the nation. It does
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  Speaker 1: follow on, obviously from the latest release of the COMSEXT
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  Speaker 1: State of the State report. And joining me on the
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  Speaker 1: line is the executive director of the Property Council here
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, Ruth Palmer. Good morning, Ruth, Good morning, Katie. Ruth.
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  Speaker 1: There were some positive signs in that latest State of
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  Speaker 1: the State report, but in some areas we're still seriously lagging.
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  Speaker 1: What are your concerns following on from the release of
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  Speaker 1: the latest comseck report.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. That's right. So again, you know we've seen
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  Speaker 2: consecutive negative borders from that Comsext report. It's a report
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  Speaker 2: that we need to take seriously. These reports are done
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  Speaker 2: by experts in their fields. It's not something that you know,
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  Speaker 2: we can just simply brush off as being a nonsense report,
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  Speaker 2: which we've heard from the government this week. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: these are facts and figures that are coming out that
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  Speaker 2: are published. While we are seeing population numbers there is
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the spending that is down. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're at a real risk at this moment where our
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  Speaker 2: population will change when when New South Wales, Victoria and
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  Speaker 2: Quenland really open up and get their workers happening again,
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  Speaker 2: get the streets bustling again, we will lose those people.
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  Speaker 2: We know that those rental demands have peaked, but we're
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  Speaker 2: at a real risk of seeing those going back to
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  Speaker 2: that boom and bus cycle when the population starts to
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  Speaker 2: open up and move around again.
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  Speaker 1: It's certainly something that we heard even just a little
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  Speaker 1: bit earlier this morning from Daniel Rochford in Central Australia
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  Speaker 1: talking about the fact that you know that once we
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  Speaker 1: do actually open up and once we kind of are
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  Speaker 1: operational again, I suppose you might say that it is
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  Speaker 1: actually making sure that we've got the workforce here in
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  Speaker 1: the territory.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, And you know, these are things that we've
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  Speaker 2: been talking about for the last couple of years when
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  Speaker 2: COVID started. We can't get into this false forth feeling
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  Speaker 2: that everything's going to be okay or that everybody's going
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  Speaker 2: to stay here, because a lot of people that are
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  Speaker 2: here at the moment are still work from home from
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  Speaker 2: Sydney or Victoria. So we don't actually have the jobs
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  Speaker 2: here for them. We're not creating new opportunities for them,
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  Speaker 2: but we're also not creating the lifestyle or the liveability
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  Speaker 2: or the affordability for people to want to be here.
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  Speaker 1: And Rothie and I have spoken on numerous occasions about
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  Speaker 1: this and about the real need to plan for that
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  Speaker 1: population growth and around you know some of what you
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  Speaker 1: could describe as a lack of planning in recent years,
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  Speaker 1: and we know that. Then there's been that discussion since
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  Speaker 1: obviously COVID impact that impacted the territory where some have
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  Speaker 1: been saying we've got COVID refugees moving to the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean, obviously you guys are concerned, the Property
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  Speaker 1: Council is concerned that we're going to see an exodus
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  Speaker 1: of people from the territory. Is that mainly because you
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  Speaker 1: feel as though there's not enough jobs in different industries
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  Speaker 1: or why do you feel as though that's going to happen?
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  Speaker 2: Multi factor of things, Katie. There's a lot of reasons
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  Speaker 2: as to why people would leave, but there's also reasons
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  Speaker 2: as to why people would come. We also don't have
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  Speaker 2: the appropriate infrastructure to be able to support our huge,
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  Speaker 2: massive population. We need to be looking at the crime
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  Speaker 2: and anty social behavior. We need to be looking at
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  Speaker 2: the liveability, the housing affordability, healthcare, schools. All those things
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  Speaker 2: make a difference to why people who want to come
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  Speaker 2: to this territory. Not only that, but there's obviously the
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  Speaker 2: economic leaders as well. So what are the policies that
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  Speaker 2: will bring here and what are the jobs and opportunities
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  Speaker 2: that will get people to want to not only come
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  Speaker 2: here initially, but to be able to stay. So that
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  Speaker 2: long term population is what we need to be able
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  Speaker 2: to grow the territory strategically, but to really get out
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  Speaker 2: of that boom and bus cycle which we see which
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  Speaker 2: affects a lot of territory in who are trying to
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  Speaker 2: look at rentals or who are trying to get into
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  Speaker 2: the housing market. It also really makes an impact to
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  Speaker 2: our commercial market. We're looking at businesses wanting to say,
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  Speaker 2: we've only this week that we're seeing another territory business
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  Speaker 2: closed down because of the issues with COVID. So we
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  Speaker 2: need to be creating that long term sustainable future for
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  Speaker 2: the territory, which all starts with that population base.
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  Speaker 1: Now Roath Obviously, yesterday we heard the government sort of
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  Speaker 1: announce their further plans around the borders, but also in
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  Speaker 1: terms of home quarantine. What did you make of it
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  Speaker 1: from the Property Council's perspective, Well, we're.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously supportive of the people being vaccinated. We do encourage
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  Speaker 2: people to get out and get vaccinated. We've obviously had
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  Speaker 2: concerns around the lack of clarity or consultation that's gone
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  Speaker 2: with that. Luckily we are meeting with the Chief Minister
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  Speaker 2: this week, which is would but we do need to
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  Speaker 2: have some consistency around messaging. We need to get away
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  Speaker 2: from this sort of fear factor or the misleading information
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  Speaker 2: that gets spread. We all need to be on the
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  Speaker 2: same path. We all need to be able to work
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  Speaker 2: together to be able to get the territories back on track.
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  Speaker 2: And unfortunately over the last few weeks there has been
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  Speaker 2: a we will disconnect between industry and the government. So
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  Speaker 2: it's really hard to send positive messages out to the
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  Speaker 2: community when they're just not filtering through correctly from the
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  Speaker 2: government point And.
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  Speaker 1: Ruth Wei did also here yesterday on the show. I
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  Speaker 1: did ask the Chief Minister about these plans that they've
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  Speaker 1: got that obviously there's going to be some fairly significant
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  Speaker 1: changes come into play when it comes to government tenders
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  Speaker 1: and also the awarding of contracts, and he said that
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  Speaker 1: the workforce in some of these instances is going to
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  Speaker 1: need to be will in fact, in all of them.
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  Speaker 1: If you're going for a government contract or a tender,
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  Speaker 1: is going to need to be one hundred percent vaccinated
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  Speaker 1: from a property perspective. Is that going to have any
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  Speaker 1: kind of impact on your industry.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, we have a lot of members that
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  Speaker 2: are in the construction industry that are doing a lot
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  Speaker 2: of tenders, engineering tenders, So that's something that's going to
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  Speaker 2: have to be managed very closely and appropriately. Our concern
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  Speaker 2: with the mandates that have come down is the extra
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  Speaker 2: owners that it does put on business. So this is
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  Speaker 2: something that we have been trying to avoid. The extra
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  Speaker 2: pressure that goes on business around you know, keeping people's
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  Speaker 2: private details, how that is going to be monitored, how
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  Speaker 2: you can track and test every single person that comes
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  Speaker 2: into your construction company. This is something that we are
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  Speaker 2: requesting clarity on, but also to be able to provide
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  Speaker 2: answers to the people who are going to be that
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  Speaker 2: frontline in those frontline roles. Where they will be responsible
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  Speaker 2: for their staff and their tenders. So that's where that
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  Speaker 2: consistency really needs to come through, so these messages can
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  Speaker 2: get out and this is what we've been calling for.
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  Speaker 2: It's all well and good to have the mandates, but
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  Speaker 2: there is a lot of questions still around those gray
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  Speaker 2: areas of how it's managed and also what owners extra
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  Speaker 2: that this puts on businesses, especially the smaller businesses as well.
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  Speaker 2: You know, they may not have the resources to track
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  Speaker 2: this sort of this sort of stuff, but also they
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  Speaker 2: may not have the knowledge to know how to use
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  Speaker 2: the most up to date technology or software that could
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  Speaker 2: possibly hold this information.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there does still seem to be quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: to work through. Ruth Palmer, we always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks a much, Katie, thank you