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Speaker 1: We know that some changes to the BDR were indeed

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Speaker 1: announced yesterday in an effort to streamline technology and minimize

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Speaker 1: the time that it takes to scan your license. So

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Speaker 1: what impact are these changes going to have? Well, Alex Bruce,

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Speaker 1: the CEO of Hospitality, joins me on the line. Now,

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Speaker 1: good morning to you, Alex.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Alex.

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Speaker 3: Why were these changes needed?

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Speaker 2: The technology behind the BDR, separate to the policy settings

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Speaker 2: of it, is archaic, slow decade old stuff clapped out constantly.

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Speaker 2: Venues are getting frustrated where there's scratched scanning equipment anyway,

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Speaker 2: So regardless of what the policy settings are around it,

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Speaker 2: it definitely did need a new tech upgrade and that's

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Speaker 2: what the government's rolling out.

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Speaker 1: Well, and it's something you and I had spoken about

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Speaker 1: I reckon on a few different occasions. Alex, the opposition

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Speaker 1: leader was just asking, is the new equipment going to

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Speaker 1: enable the new drivers' licenses to be scanned proper?

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Speaker 2: We hope. So we got the opportunity to play around

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Speaker 2: with one of the ones in an office environment a

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Speaker 2: few weeks ago, and we thought the next stage was

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Speaker 2: going to be a pilot in some venues to actually

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Speaker 2: really put it through its paces for a week and

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Speaker 2: test it, and we do want to reserve and hold

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Speaker 2: back our judgment until there have been those real world

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Speaker 2: tests done in our venues and we get the A

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Speaker 2: or n A from them. But I had a quick

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Speaker 2: play around with some sample licenses, new ones, old ones,

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Speaker 2: passport scratched up ones, and yeah, it seems to perform

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Speaker 2: a lot better and a lot quicker than what's currently

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Speaker 2: out there.

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Speaker 1: And so is it a pilot trial or is it

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Speaker 1: a bang we're getting out there?

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Speaker 3: We're rolling these out everywhere now.

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Speaker 2: Ah, they're rolling them out. They said that though a

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Speaker 2: chief full roll out by November. We confirmed that yesterday

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Speaker 2: following the announcement, but there isn't a single one out

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Speaker 2: there currently, so we're hoping to start seeing them in

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Speaker 2: our venues from or bottle shops from the end of

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Speaker 2: this week onwards. And it relies on good telephone coverage,

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Speaker 2: so there'll still be really remote places that will just

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Speaker 2: be using the clapped out old systems, but this one's

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Speaker 2: a good solution for anyway where they've got that good

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Speaker 2: four G coverage.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So, Alex, from your perspective and from the

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Speaker 1: perspective of venues or take away outlets around the territory.

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Speaker 1: Has the feedback been quite positive?

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Speaker 2: It will be in terms of the technology. You're right,

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Speaker 2: and the leader of the oppositions right in some of

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Speaker 2: the stats that you were discussing of listening to that interview,

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Speaker 2: you know, the red screen the rejected sale is zero

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Speaker 2: point zero zero zero six five as a proportion of

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Speaker 2: our scans and sales. So of course we want a

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Speaker 2: system that can be as quick and user friendly as possible.

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Speaker 2: Whether the BDR or the policy is effective or not,

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Speaker 2: you have to look around the streets and the crime

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Speaker 2: and the antisocial behavior, and you'd really have to scratch

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Speaker 2: your head and say, is it really worth it?

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Speaker 3: Well, this is.

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Speaker 1: The thing that a lot of people are questioning at

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Speaker 1: the moment. I've got people messaging as we speak talking

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Speaker 1: about the minimum floor price as well and talking about

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Speaker 1: some of the other policies.

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Speaker 3: Again.

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Speaker 1: You know, you and I have spoken in the past

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Speaker 1: about whether some changes could be made to the BDR

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Speaker 1: to make it more effective. I mean, where do you

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Speaker 1: think that the hospitality sort of fits into this discussion.

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Speaker 2: We think the BDR should be improved or scrapped. That's

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Speaker 2: been our standard position in terms of the policy, but

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Speaker 2: it is good that the text being upgraded, and by

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Speaker 2: that we mean, you know, we've even got a Liquor

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Speaker 2: Condmission decision of early last year which found that people

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Speaker 2: in Tennant Creek were being treated like second class citizens.

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Speaker 2: You could buy a cart and a beer, or you

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Speaker 2: could buy two bottles of wine, but you couldn't buy

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Speaker 2: a six pack of beer and a bottle of wine.

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Speaker 2: They agreed with the community let and championed by the

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Speaker 2: mayor down there, that they wanted that flexibility of choice

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Speaker 2: still within the quantity limit that the Liquor Commission thought appropriate.

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Speaker 2: And they've received word from Licensing MT that that's not

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Speaker 2: going to be upgraded. It's too expensive to fix the system.

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Speaker 2: So you know, this kind of malarchy is still going on.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned the flaw price that was due for a

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Speaker 2: three year review October last year. We know the report

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Speaker 2: sitting with government somewhere a year on now. We'd like

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Speaker 2: to see it tabled. We think it should be scrapped.

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Speaker 2: We think it's an unnecessary impact on customers.

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Speaker 3: Alex.

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Speaker 1: We always get a couple of messages come through whenever

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Speaker 1: you and I speak about these types of things, and

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Speaker 1: people say, well, are all of those takeaway out let's

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Speaker 1: doing the right thing and making sure that they're not

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Speaker 1: serving people who are intoxicated or who are going to

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Speaker 1: do the wrong thing.

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Speaker 3: What's your response to.

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Speaker 2: That, Well, you've got the most scrutiny on our bottle

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Speaker 2: shops in the country, in the Northern Territory, and there'll

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Speaker 2: always be the old issue highlighted. And we never stand

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Speaker 2: in front and defend bad behavior. And yes, there are

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Speaker 2: plenty of tools that police and the liquor Commission have

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Speaker 2: to throw the absolute book at our venues. Often what

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Speaker 2: happens is an honest mistake will be slipped up. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know, blind Freddy will tell you that further focusing

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Speaker 2: on legal sales as a way to solve the antisocial

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Speaker 2: and illegal behavior. You know, where's the offense for public drinking?

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Speaker 2: Bring that back? I mean, how long do we have

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Speaker 2: to keep bashing our head against a brick wall and

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Speaker 2: be told that the people that are causing the trouble

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Speaker 2: it's got nothing to do with them, that everyone else

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Speaker 2: in the community props some more regulation, red tape and

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Speaker 2: anti freedom in your life. Get it up here.

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Speaker 1: Hey, let me ask you a pretty controversial decision made

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Speaker 1: yesterday around the pokes in Alice Springs. The Racing, Gaming

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Speaker 1: and Licensing Minister Chancey Paig on Monday said that applications

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Speaker 1: the applications of course for sixty extra poker machines at

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Speaker 1: four venues was suspended until June twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 3: What was your reaction to that decision.

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Speaker 2: We would have liked to have seen the process run

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Speaker 2: its course, and you know, we didn't know which way

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Speaker 2: those applications were going to go, whether they were going

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Speaker 2: to be accepted and approved or rejected. It's fair to

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Speaker 2: say there are a lot of submissions raised on some

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Speaker 2: of those applications down in Alice Springs. So we think

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Speaker 2: that the current framework was robust enough to deal with that,

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Speaker 2: and there's a bit of a preemptive strike that's happened

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Speaker 2: and it just increases our business uncertainty. When you stroke

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Speaker 2: of a pen, they can change the goalposts. How are

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Speaker 2: we really going to attract investment, be it at the

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Speaker 2: Baloo or down in Alice Springs into tourism and hospitality.

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Speaker 1: What has that decision or what do you think that

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Speaker 1: that decision is going to mean to the company which

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Speaker 1: has indeed bought those venues in Alice that they were

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Speaker 1: planned to go into.

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Speaker 2: It's too soon to say, but the reality is you've

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Speaker 2: seen it in the new bill part around Darwin or

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Speaker 2: the refurbed ones. When they expand, you know, you get

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Speaker 2: a better offering, better food, better accommodation if they've got

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Speaker 2: hotel rooms attached, and and and gaming and investment in

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Speaker 2: game and is part of that that underpins that whole

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Speaker 2: business proposition. So yeah, we want rules based, we want

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Speaker 2: independent decision making at arms lamps from political interference, and

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Speaker 2: we want to know what the rules are as the

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Speaker 2: community do and go through the process. We don't like

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Speaker 2: this stuff where they just throw the baby out with

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Speaker 2: the bath water.

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Speaker 1: Alex, there was obviously, you know, there was controversy in

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Speaker 1: Alice or there was certainly you know, some people that

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Speaker 1: were saying that they were concerned that you know, that

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Speaker 1: it could increase antisocial behavior in the region.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that it would.

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Speaker 2: Look I just think that there was a process to

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Speaker 2: assess all of that community impact. A lot of people

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Speaker 2: made submissions, and those submissions are basically just been put

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Speaker 2: on Ice. The government's come in over the top of it,

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Speaker 2: So who knows which way it would have gone. I

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Speaker 2: think the rate of change in Alice Springs, it's fair

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Speaker 2: to say was impacting what was going on. But I

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Speaker 2: do think it is a big strange because if some

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Speaker 2: of those pubs that have all been acquired by one

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Speaker 2: entity were all running individually, history suggests that they probably

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Speaker 2: could have done modest upgrade into their full venue and

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Speaker 2: received very little backlash from the community.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Alex, just very quickly before I let you go,

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Speaker 1: I know that the hospitality industry is sort of rallying around.

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Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say right now to save

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Speaker 1: a popular bar worker who is looking as though he's

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Speaker 1: going to be deported despite the fact that we have

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Speaker 1: got a real workers shortage here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Bangladesh born student. He's known as Labib. I'm not even

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Speaker 1: going to attempt to pronounce his whole name because I

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Speaker 1: will probably get it wrong. But he is indeed seeking

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Speaker 1: that last minute lifeline from the federal government. Alex, how

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Speaker 1: likely do you think that la Bib is to being

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Speaker 1: able to stay in the territory.

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately, it's not looking good. And you know we have

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Speaker 2: rally behind Labib and highlighted his case. But his case

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Speaker 2: is one of many, many, many we've been saying goodbye

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Speaker 2: to good people. They'd had emergency four eight visas for

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Speaker 2: the last two years, they've been working. Everyone knows there's

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Speaker 2: workforce shortages and since the regime change in Canberra, they

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Speaker 2: didn't extend any of those. So we would have liked

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Speaker 2: to have seen a pathway for those people that have

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Speaker 2: been on the roller coaster of COVID with us over

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Speaker 2: the last two and a half years into permanent residency

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Speaker 2: or a better pathway to stay. And instead, you know,

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Speaker 2: we're hearing this nine hundred thousand in a visa processing backlog.

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Speaker 2: It was inherited by the current mob from the previous

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Speaker 2: federal government. They dropped the ball massively, but you know,

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Speaker 2: we want to see more rubber hitting the road. There's

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Speaker 2: big talk fest in Canberra on all this stuff, but

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Speaker 2: the reality is we're still saying goodbye to good people.

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Speaker 3: So well, look, we'll.

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Speaker 1: Talk some more about it a little bit later this morning.

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Speaker 1: Alex Bruce, CEO of Hospitality here in the territory, always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for having a chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Jeers Katie, Thank you