Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Master Builders Association NT Chief Executive Dave Malone

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Master Builders Association NT Chief Executive Dave Malone · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three point sixty online at Mix
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot COMU.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister Scott Morrison is going to jet into the
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory today. He's going to be unveiling a well
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: seven hundred and forty seven million dollar spend on defense.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: So it has been revealed that four of the Northern
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Territory's ADF training sites are going to be overhauled, with
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: the bradshaw Field Training Area to be upgraded to include
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: urban operations training facilities over the next five years and
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: given an extended runway. The NT News is reporting that
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: the expansion is going to allow a significant increase in
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Australia's military force capabilities and provide greater opportunity for cooperation
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: with the US.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: We know as well that well.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: The Prime Minister is saying that it's going to mean
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: jobs for Territorians and joining us on the line to
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: talk further about things from that aspect. Master Builders NT
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: CEO Dave Malone, Good morning to you, Dave.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: How are you very well?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: What was your reaction upon hearing that the Northern Territory
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: is set to have a seven hundred and forty seven
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: million dollar cash splash on defense.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Well, Katie, you know, you and I have been talking
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: about defense for a while, and so this is just
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: the next installment. Now, what we're seeing is the things
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: we talked about for a few years are becoming very,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: very real. And it's Prime Minister flying into town today
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: to announce seven hundred and forty seven million dollars with
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a wordth of more works is good news for the
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: territory and it's good news for all those people that
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: will work on those jobs over the next three to
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: five years.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: And Dave, I had wondered that I had sort of
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: wondered whether it is brand new money or whether it
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: is money that had already been earmarked for the territory.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: But as you've pointed out, it is that next step
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: in terms of it actually being delivered.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Earmark is the right thing. You know, we have an
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: eight billion dollar program, but there's a lot of work
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: to turn that announcement into a set of plan for
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: manding people to physically do the work. What we've seen
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: with those field training areas is the design work pretty
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: much completed and it will go through for public approval
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: at through Federal Parliament in the next few months, and
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: then we'll see physical works happening. So it's a really
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: important stage in that project, and it just shows how
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: important defense is for everybody in the territory.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Dave, talk us through what this is going to mean
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: for our local will, for locals that work in the
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: building and construction industry.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Well, Katie, you know, some years ago Master Builders looked
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: at this program and said it's one of the best
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: opportunities that our community can have and definitely what our
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: industry can have over the next decade post impacts. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: so we sat down with Defense and with various federal
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: politicians and really worked hard on finding a procureent model,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: a way of getting this work done that would maximize
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: the use of locals. And that's pretty much what we
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: see now. Defense now has a program where they issue
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: a really large contract to one contractor manage the project
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: for them, and then they let a lot of the
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: workout of what's called works packages, and that brings in
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: other contractors and subcontractors and suppliers and pretty much says,
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: if you're in a supply chain in the territory, you've
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: got a pretty good chance of doing defense work.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: And Dave, what is the process in terms of making
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: sure that I guess you'd call them. You know from
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: the second tier down that it is locals that are
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: doing this work.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it's a really good question. It's something that
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: we try and push really hard. All this work runs
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: through the ICN, the Industry Capability Network. The big contractors
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: I just talked about, they take their packages to the ICN.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: All those packages are put up on their system. Local
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: firms get to put their expressions of interest in and
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: people will be shortlisted from that and then they get
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: the opportunity tender. So every firm wanting to be in
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: this space needs to get in contact with the ICN
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: as soon as they can update their records as they've
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: already got one, or make sure they put a new
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: record in if they've introduced new capacity.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Now it's it's obviously you know it is going to
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: be great if we've got our local contractors completing this work.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: But how soon do you think that it's all going
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to get under way?
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Daves, Well, it's already underway in many ways. If you
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: go to Tindall, for example, you'll see five or six
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: projects all being done by local firms. They're already to
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: get a Larakia Kuna Warra plenty of work. Last time
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I heard there were three hundred people working out there.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: There's a couple of hundred million dollars worth of work
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: happening at raft Bay Stalin. This work that we're talking
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: about is probably in the third or fourth quarter of
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: the year. Defense is a big deal now, and you know,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: coming out of COVID, when everybody's worried about, you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: where will the next opportunities come. The timing around this
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: defense work is just absolutely you know, for our future success.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I know it sounds like a glib line, but we
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: really need to fence to keep compan money into the town.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: How many jobs are we talking.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: That's a really good question. There is no doubt that
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: when we add all those projects together, we're talking about
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: thousands of jobs.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: So a couple thousand maybe at least.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: At least that's only the direct jobs. That only counts
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: to people who are pouring concrete, laying blocks, you know,
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: putting roof trusses up, or finishing the buildings, or doing
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: the civil works to build pavements and new runway extensions
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: be the direct jobs. But then usually with construction, for
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: every one direct job that we have, there's almost two
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: indirect jobs in the wider community. So you know, we're
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: talking about you know, thousands directly and many thousands indirectly
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: And how important is it as well, Dave, that you
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: know this work is not just happening on one of
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: these sites, but it is actually in various locations in
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: terms of engaging different contractors, very.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Much so, very much so that not only is it
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: regionally based, so you know, it's right across the top end,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: but it's also different work. So you know, all contractors
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: specialize in their own particular area. And basically, if you
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: can think about a job, it's going to happen somewhere
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: on a defense base over the next few years. And
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: that's why the opportunities are so broad. It's why we've
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: talked so long and hard about this stuff. It really
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: is the situation where you know, if you have a
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: look at Impacts, it was a really great project but
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: had a narrower set of skills. This is a great
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: set of projects with a real breadth of demand for skills.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: When you talk, you know, when you're sort of making
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: that comparison, Dave, do you think that you know, realistically
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: this this defense spend is going to be more beneficial
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: to our local contractors than what the likes of thet
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Impacts project was.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Well, I think Impacts was great. I know that some
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: people have got their views, but I think it was
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: really important for the growth of the territory. The good
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: thing about this work that we're talking about now is
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: it's coming at a time when private demand isn't at
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: its strongest, and so it's filling the gap in the market.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: So we'll be able to handle it. There's no question
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: at all. We have great contractors, people with great skills,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: and the volume that's coming through is manageable for our industry,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: so it's not going to create those huge bubbles of
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: concern around prices and labor shortages and people losing staff.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: It's going to be manageable for our economy.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Well. Master Builders NT CEO Dave Malone always good to
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: catch up with you.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Thanks Cotie. Good to talk to you.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Thank you.