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Speaker 1: We know that there is a well known and well

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Speaker 1: loved hospitality worker who's called Darwin home for the last

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Speaker 1: five years and could soon be deported. Despite the critical

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Speaker 1: worker shortage that we've got in the sector. Now, the

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Speaker 1: industry is indeed rallying to support Lebie, calling on the

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Speaker 1: federal government to allow him to remain in the country. Now,

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now to talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about this situation, but also about the

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Speaker 1: workforce shortage that we've got at the moment is Martin Boucher,

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Speaker 1: who is indeed the owner of Fat Mango.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Martin.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very well, lovely to have you on the show

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Speaker 2: this morning.

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Speaker 3: Good to be here.

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Speaker 2: Now tell us, tell us a little bit more about

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Speaker 2: le Bibe.

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Speaker 1: I know that he's well, it sounds as ow he's

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Speaker 1: friends with everybody in the industry.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's one of the great things about our industry.

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Speaker 3: We're a huge family. I mean, the hospitality side of

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Speaker 3: what we are is what makes Darwin something very, very

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Speaker 3: fat special. And you know, we all stick together, we

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Speaker 3: all work together, we eat, live and breathe together, you know,

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Speaker 3: so when one of our own is facing issues like

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Speaker 3: the Beabes. Then you know, we of course we all

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Speaker 3: rally around.

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Speaker 1: From your perspective, what is the situation at the moment

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Speaker 1: with Lebe?

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Speaker 3: You know, Lebiv's the same as there's many, many, many

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Speaker 3: guys in town that are facing very very similar issues

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Speaker 3: as people on bridging visas, that have been on bridging

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Speaker 3: visas as far as I know, in like six years

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Speaker 3: with no guarantee of whether they're going to stay or not.

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Speaker 3: And you know, Laviv can't afford the fifteen thousand dollars

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Speaker 3: required to change the visa over you know, it's like

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Speaker 3: we pay. I mean, I was in the same situation

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Speaker 3: ten years ago, very very similar situation, but I was

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Speaker 3: lucky that I managed to get a loan from my

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Speaker 3: employer and I paid it off. But you know that

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Speaker 3: it's absolutely ridiculous. But the issues that we have in

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Speaker 3: our industry, not just in the Northern Territory but all

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Speaker 3: over this country. And yet we're kicking out guys that

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Speaker 3: have been working, living, breathing and loving our industry for

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Speaker 3: the last seven years. You know, it's madness.

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Speaker 1: That's the part that I think I'm quite surprised by,

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Speaker 1: is it you're literally talking about people that have been

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Speaker 1: a huge part of the community for you know, for

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Speaker 1: five years in Lebbe's case, and then you know, facing

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Speaker 1: deportation when then we're also you know, on the other hand,

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Speaker 1: have the Jobs and Skills Summit that happened federally not

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Speaker 1: too long ago, where they're talking about, you know, increasing

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Speaker 1: the cap on people being able to move to Australia

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Speaker 1: to work.

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Speaker 2: So it just seems bizarre to me.

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Speaker 3: It's a Kelly as barstacle. Genuinely, as Fascal I like

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Speaker 3: to say, it's been going on years. I had many

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Speaker 3: good friends of mine that you build relation ships over

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Speaker 3: the years of being up here. But you know, the

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Speaker 3: same thing in two weeks get out of the country,

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Speaker 3: you know, get rid of all the stuff five five

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Speaker 3: years of living and breathing in a place you build

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Speaker 3: up and accumulate belongings, and then you've got two weeks.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's it's it's ridiculous. It genuinely is. And

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Speaker 3: I think people like Andrew Giles down, you know, Minister

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Speaker 3: for Immigration and Citizenship down on the federal basis, needs

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Speaker 3: to sort of wake up and smell the roses. You know,

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Speaker 3: we've got it. Beggars believe Kenry It genuinely does. You know,

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Speaker 3: I don't want to swear on air, but this this

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Speaker 3: this industry needs people like the beeB. It needs people

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Speaker 3: like Tom and Derek and Gracie and you know, all

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Speaker 3: the beautiful people that make this industry. What it is

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Speaker 3: that doubt being Giuseppe's Pinocchio.

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Speaker 1: You know, yeah, margin from your perspective, you know, how

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Speaker 1: are things going at them? When you talk about the

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Speaker 1: workforce shortage and some of the issues that we have

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Speaker 1: been experiencing in the territory.

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Speaker 2: When it comes to that shortage.

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Speaker 3: It's it's is genuinely hard work, you know. I mean

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Speaker 3: we we've stuck lucky at our restaurants. We've managed to

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Speaker 3: replace some staff that have gone. We've got a plethora

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Speaker 3: of backpackers, but that's coming to the end now because

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Speaker 3: they all follow the follow the sun as it were,

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Speaker 3: and it's getting a bit too warm for some of them,

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Speaker 3: so they're going to head off down to Adelaide, Melbourne

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Speaker 3: and Sydney as their weather improves. You know, that's the

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Speaker 3: nature of what this business is. But when you've got

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Speaker 3: people that want to stay in the Northern territory, you know,

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Speaker 3: that's the bit. I don't understand. It's like we we

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Speaker 3: we we talk when we're down the pub, you know,

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Speaker 3: you go down to the tap bar, we sit and

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Speaker 3: have a beer. We go to all all these beautiful

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Speaker 3: places that we've got. This town does not operate without

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Speaker 3: visa works because, you know, we just need people in.

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Speaker 3: We need people that are keen to be in the industry,

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Speaker 3: have a passion for the industry, you know, I mean

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Speaker 3: the being started off as a dishwasher, now as a manager.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's you know, that's that's stories a thousand

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Speaker 3: people in this town.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's exactly the kind of people you want,

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Speaker 1: you know, that love the industry and that want want

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Speaker 1: to be part of it and all it myself.

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Speaker 3: I mean I came over. I was a visa worker,

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Speaker 3: you know. I came over on the old four five seven.

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Speaker 3: I had two years, I had two weeks left, and

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Speaker 3: luckily for me, the Dowlings heard about me and shipped

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Speaker 3: me up here from Adelaide and the rest is history,

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Speaker 3: as they say, you know, but I love the territory,

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Speaker 3: you know, I want to put everything I've got into

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Speaker 3: promoting the territory. And I'm lucky to be able to

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Speaker 3: do that around the country and around the world, and

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Speaker 3: you know, why not somebody else. But you know, why

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Speaker 3: what this mentality of oh you've ticked the wrong box.

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Speaker 3: Yeah you're gone. Yeah, no, go back to Bangladesh, go

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Speaker 3: back to Indonesia, go back to England, Germany, France, wherever.

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Speaker 3: You know. Honestly, it's I haven't got the words to

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Speaker 3: be able to say this is wrong. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 3: maybe maybe our local Polly's, you know, it's not just

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Speaker 3: a federal issue. Maybe maybe maybe mister Giles needs to

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Speaker 3: set up a branch up here. We used to have

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Speaker 3: an immigration office that's not here anymore. You know, where

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Speaker 3: you could go and you could actually talk to somebody.

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Speaker 3: Now you're talking to some faceless wonder in Melbourne or

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Speaker 3: Sydney or.

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Speaker 1: Canberra, which I would imagine makes it so difficult. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's so bloody difficult.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, it's bloody ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi, Martin, I am going to have to get

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Speaker 1: ready to wrap up before I let you go. Though

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Speaker 1: obviously we have got the public holiday now on Thursday

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Speaker 1: as a result of the passing of Queen Elizabeth.

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Speaker 2: How is that going?

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Speaker 1: You know, from your perspective, is it is it sort

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Speaker 1: of making things if when it said added public holiday

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Speaker 1: or you guys going to open, what's it looking like

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Speaker 1: for you?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it is difficult, and we've made the difficult

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Speaker 3: decision to close the doors. I mean I sat up

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Speaker 3: till two o'clock this morning watching them obviously not a

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Speaker 3: not an Australian. Australian, even though I've got the really passport. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: I sat up watching the pageantry and the amazing you

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Speaker 3: know thing with the Queen's funeral yesterday. But unfortunately, yeah,

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Speaker 3: we're going to have to close because I just can't

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Speaker 3: afford to pay all of my guys when it's one

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Speaker 3: of the quietest days of the actual week, you know.

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Speaker 3: So so we're unfortunately closing, But I'll be I'll be

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Speaker 3: having a beer and we'll be having a toast and

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Speaker 3: we'll get together with our crew. I'm going to take

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Speaker 3: them out for a drink and we'll we'll toast the

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Speaker 3: Queen and new King Charles, good on him. Yeah, and

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Speaker 3: you know, but yeah, the you know, public holders are

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Speaker 3: a killer. Nobody wants to pay the extra money. You know,

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Speaker 3: We've got surcharges that we thoughts, but you know, when

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Speaker 3: they come into the restaurant, don't necessarily understand it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes it hard.

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Speaker 2: Well, Martin, I appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for having a chat with us,

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Speaker 1: and and please keep us up to date if you

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Speaker 1: do hear that there's any changes when it comes to

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Speaker 1: Labebe's situation. But by the sounds of things, you know

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Speaker 1: it's not just him, there are others as well, So

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Speaker 1: keep us up to date and let us know how

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Speaker 1: things go.

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Speaker 3: It would be my absolute pleasure. Teddy, really good to talk.

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Speaker 2: To you, you too, Thank you, Martin. See ya