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Speaker 1: Now, the budget obviously handed down overnight, as we've heard

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Speaker 1: throughout the morning, and there are a number of incentives

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Speaker 1: aimed at keeping business moving. Joining me on the line

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Speaker 1: is the head of the Chamber of Commerce here in

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Speaker 1: the territory, Greg Island. Good morning, Hi Katie. Now, Greg,

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Speaker 1: can you talk us through some of the incentives or

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Speaker 1: some of the highlights for the business community announced overnight.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, just seeing the headlines on the news this

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Speaker 2: morning with Jobs Blitz, it certainly has a very strong

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Speaker 2: focus on small to medium business and creating the investment

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Speaker 2: needed to drive job creation. So I think that's a

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Speaker 2: very positive sign for business, particularly around the expense right

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Speaker 2: off capability and the carried back losses will really really

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Speaker 2: improve cashflow for business, I think yeah.

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Speaker 1: And we have heard throughout the morning obviously that this

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Speaker 1: has been all about creating jobs and that the federal

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Speaker 1: government really sees the business community as helping to drive

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Speaker 1: us out of the economic crisis which COVID has created.

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Speaker 1: Do you think the incentives that have been announced go

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Speaker 1: far enough in terms of giving business that kind of confidence?

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Speaker 2: Look, it will certainly help, and I guess with business

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Speaker 2: making those investments, the risk is being carried by business

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Speaker 2: and divested a bit from government. We all know that

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Speaker 2: cash is king, so it's certainly going to make that

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Speaker 2: capability of investing more palatable for business, and particularly employing

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Speaker 2: younger Territorians into opportunities, particularly straight from school and then

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Speaker 2: reducing the unemployment rate over a period of time is

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Speaker 2: a positive thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, in terms of that job maker hiring credit, so

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Speaker 1: really employing people aged between sixteen and thirty five. What

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Speaker 1: was your reaction to that, Look, I.

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Speaker 2: Think that's a positive thing. Again, we really do need

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Speaker 2: a skills based so we need to be investing in

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Speaker 2: people and their skills. We do need to be cautious

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Speaker 2: that we don't see any displacement of older workers and

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Speaker 2: making sure that we continue to improve the skill base

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Speaker 2: of the territory because we're going to need it for

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Speaker 2: some of these larger opportunities that are on the horizon.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that we'll see some businesses turning down

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Speaker 1: older employees though in favor of younger ones.

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Speaker 2: Look, I would certainly hope not. I think there needs

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Speaker 2: to be a balance in all of this. We need

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Speaker 2: to be encouraging school leaders to get into the workforce

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Speaker 2: and making sure that everyone's participating as much as possible,

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Speaker 2: and that really does include older territorians who, as we

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Speaker 2: all know, I've got a lot broader range of experience

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Speaker 2: and skills that can offer business increase value.

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Speaker 1: So, Greg, I suppose on a whole, from a business

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Speaker 1: perspective and in your role at the Chamber, did you

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Speaker 1: feel as though it was a positive budget for business?

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Speaker 2: Look, I thought from an employment givision was from a

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Speaker 2: longer term investment perspective, I think there's a few gaps

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Speaker 2: we're seeing.

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Speaker 1: You.

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Speaker 2: We certainly welcome the additional money on the Carpentia Highway

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Speaker 2: one hundred and ninety million dollars, but I think we

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Speaker 2: could have done with ten times and amount to really

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Speaker 2: get into some of the other roads that will open

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Speaker 2: up economic opportunities for regional territories.

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Speaker 1: So I spoke you know again, I guess it was.

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Speaker 1: It was one of those budgets unlike what we've sort

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Speaker 1: of seen before, where there wasn't a huge focus on

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Speaker 1: the different regions, or you know, we weren't sort of

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Speaker 1: watching it in the way that we usually would, waiting

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Speaker 1: to hear exactly what's announced for the Northern territory. It

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Speaker 1: was more a matter of sort of these larger scale

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Speaker 1: announcements aimed at again keeping people employed and were trying

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Speaker 1: to create those job opportunities, wasn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the devil was in the details we all know,

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Speaker 2: and we really don't understand all of the detail. There's

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Speaker 2: a little bit of cloudiness around some of those things. Certainly,

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Speaker 2: the commentary around the GST number is appears to be

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Speaker 2: more than the forecast from our local government, so potentially

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Speaker 2: that's a strong positive. But let's again hope that the

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Speaker 2: forecast information provided is accurate. Well.

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Speaker 1: Greg Island from the Chamber of Commerce a CEO. Always

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Speaker 1: good to catch up with you mate. We really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: No problem at all came, thank you.