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Speaker 1: What we do know is the Motor Trade Association is

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Speaker 1: set to participate in a Northern Territory government trade delegation

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Speaker 1: to Auckland this weekend. It's all in an effort to

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Speaker 1: attract skilled mechanics to our local automotive industry. And Tom

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Speaker 1: Edwards from the Motor Trade Association, the Public Affairs manager,

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Speaker 1: joins me on theline.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Tom, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you yeah, really good? Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning, Tom. What exactly is this delegation

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Speaker 1: all about.

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Speaker 2: It's all about trying to promote the opportunities in our

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Speaker 2: local industry in the Northern Territory. We know it's an

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Speaker 2: amazing place to live and work and coupled with the

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Speaker 2: exciting and rewarding opportunities in the automotive industry, we're trying

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Speaker 2: to get jobs see gives from New Zealand to us locally.

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Speaker 1: How many do we need in the industry here in

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Speaker 1: the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a very good question. And we have about

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Speaker 2: seven hundred and fifty bacency at the moment and trade delegations, yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's quite a few. So trade delegations like VI work

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Speaker 2: hand in hand with our local apprentice recruitment efforts. But

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Speaker 2: we do know that skilled migration can be a really

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Speaker 2: useful tool for businesses. But we want to make sure

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Speaker 2: that not only do we access skilled migration, but that

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Speaker 2: businesses can do it in a way that is easy,

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Speaker 2: affordable and doesn't make them need to jump through multiple

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Speaker 2: hoops and barriers.

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Speaker 1: So seven hundred and fifty vacancies in the industry across

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Speaker 1: the territory right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And some of the most common sought

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Speaker 2: after positions would probably be heavy diesel mechanic it's a

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Speaker 2: big one for the Northern territory, but also a range

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Speaker 2: of things for example automotive electrician panel BEGTA like vehicle mechanic.

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Speaker 2: But a list goes on and on and on, and

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Speaker 2: that's why the Motive Trade Association is really excited and

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Speaker 2: we thank the government for our ability to participate in

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Speaker 2: this delegation to Auckland over the weekend, but we want

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Speaker 2: to make sure that we have ongoing annual delegations to

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Speaker 2: best promote our industry as much as we can.

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Speaker 1: And are you expecting that you're sort of going to

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Speaker 1: be able to recruit people right from the weekend or

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Speaker 1: you know what, are the KPIs. I guess when you

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Speaker 1: send a delegation away like this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good question because obviously we're not going

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Speaker 2: to imagine we're going to expect to field seven hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty vacancies from one expo in New Zealand over

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Speaker 2: the weekend. But what we're trying to do is to

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Speaker 2: promote not only automotive but the territory, like I touched

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Speaker 2: on earlier, the unique lifestyle, the working abilities in the territory,

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Speaker 2: and just raising awareness because we know that once somebody

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Speaker 2: is aware of the opportunities that exist, they're much more

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Speaker 2: likely to follow through with them. So we're not going

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Speaker 2: to recruit seven hundred and fifty vacancies all over the weekend.

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Speaker 2: We're hoping, definitely to recruit some, but we just want

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Speaker 2: to make sure that New Zealanders and anyone for that

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Speaker 2: matter on other delegations are aware of the opportunities locally

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Speaker 2: that we have here.

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Speaker 1: Tom When it comes to the industry, and when you

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Speaker 1: talk about that shortage seven hundred and fifty, what kind

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Speaker 1: of impact is it having for territories.

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Speaker 2: There's a huge impact. And the tight labor in my

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Speaker 2: market compared with coupled rather with skill shortages and rising

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Speaker 2: cost of business is not a recipe which local small

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Speaker 2: and medium businesses want. It's really doing damage to business.

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Speaker 2: And also what it means for the every day mum

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Speaker 2: and dad motorists in the territory. It means that you

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Speaker 2: are waiting longer to have your car serviced or repaired.

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Speaker 2: So what we want to do to make sure that

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Speaker 2: that isn't the case. You used to recruit as many

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Speaker 2: workers as possible, and once people are actually in the industry,

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Speaker 2: particularly apprentices, we want to keep them in automotive. So

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Speaker 2: we have mentoring programs to make sure that apprentices stay

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Speaker 2: in the industry because we know that once we get

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Speaker 2: them in the industry, they're excited about it and the

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Speaker 2: prospects are almost them.

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Speaker 1: Now. I know that current skilled labor processes are seen

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Speaker 1: by a lot of businesses, and you've touched on this

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Speaker 1: as being quite costly but also fraught with red tape.

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Speaker 1: So how do we overcome that? How do those local

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Speaker 1: businesses overcome that and take advantage or not take advantage,

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Speaker 1: but you know, make sure that we can actually get

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Speaker 1: some workers into the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of red tape and unfortunately for

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Speaker 2: smaller meeting businesses sometimes it can be almost too much.

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Speaker 2: Big businesses have the ability to navigate it a little

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Speaker 2: bit better, but for small businesses you could be spending

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Speaker 2: thousands upon thousands of dollars and you may not even

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Speaker 2: be successful in obtaining workers. So what we would be

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Speaker 2: calling for from the government is incentives, education and even

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Speaker 2: rebates to assist businesses to navigate the process and make

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Speaker 2: sure they're familiar with it, but that it's easy for

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Speaker 2: them to do because obviously smaller meeting businesses are so

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Speaker 2: time poor for a no fault of their own, and

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Speaker 2: anything we can do to make the process easier for them.

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Speaker 2: The Motor Trade Association would be advocating for it very

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Speaker 2: very strongly.

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Speaker 1: Are we trying to do a lot in the territory

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Speaker 1: right now in terms of growing our own as well

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Speaker 1: in terms of the as in you know, with the

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Speaker 1: apprentices and that you know, making sure that like obviously

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Speaker 1: great to bring people across from New Zealand, but you know,

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Speaker 1: also great to train our own, our young people up

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Speaker 1: as they leave school if possible.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we know there was even an article just

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Speaker 2: today in the media saying how job prospects and salaries

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Speaker 2: in trades can be a lot more lucrative and higher

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Speaker 2: than university degrees, and that's something that we need to

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Speaker 2: promote not only to people once they have left school,

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Speaker 2: but probably also when they are in school. And if

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Speaker 2: we can capture people early and educate them about the

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Speaker 2: benefits of a trade, whether that's in automotive or elsewhere,

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Speaker 2: that's something that is really beneficial and something we should

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Speaker 2: be doing even more than we are now.

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Speaker 1: Well Tom Edwards from the Motive Trade Association, we always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thanks very much for chatting with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Katie, Thank you