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Speaker 1: We learned earlier this week that the Northern Territory government

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Speaker 1: would be declaring that Easter Sunday will be a public

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Speaker 1: holiday for twenty twenty three. No doubt welcome news for

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Speaker 1: workers who are going to be heading in for a

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Speaker 1: shift if you are on Easter Sunday. But what kind

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Speaker 1: of impact will it have? Four businesses? Well, Joining me

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Speaker 1: on the line is Greg Island, the CEO of the

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Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce. Get a Greg.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Canny.

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Speaker 1: Now, Greg, what do you make of this declaration that

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Speaker 1: we are going to have Easter Sunday as a public

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Speaker 1: holiday for this year as well?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? OK, that certainly doesn't come as any surprise. We've

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Speaker 2: seen the trend of declaring these days as holidays even

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Speaker 2: though we are having a holiday for that day on

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Speaker 2: a different day. That situations occurred Christmas, New Year and

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Speaker 2: all of those situations, So no surprises there. It does

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Speaker 2: increase costs for business that they want to trade on

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Speaker 2: those particular days. We've been saying that around these other

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Speaker 2: circumstances as well, and business will choose whether they choose

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Speaker 2: to choose to wear that traditional cost or or stay closed.

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Speaker 2: That's the risk for I guess the consumer in the

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Speaker 2: end of the day as those operating costs increase.

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Speaker 1: Greig, would it be easier if we just sort of

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Speaker 1: knew at the start of the year all the different

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Speaker 1: public holidays that were gazetted, rather than kind of finding

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Speaker 1: out later in the year after you've probably done a

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Speaker 1: lot of your costings for your business for the year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, that also has been our feedback to government

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Speaker 2: on these particular issues. Understanding those costs before you get

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Speaker 2: started is crucial for business to plan effect effectively. There

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Speaker 2: has been some good news with that. We've recently provided

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Speaker 2: some input into some legislation changes that will achieve that

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Speaker 2: particular outcome, and that's now been finalized and going through

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Speaker 2: its process. I guess we will know that we will

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Speaker 2: turn slowly and that will be happening in due course.

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Speaker 1: So do you reckon? In some cases though, we might

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Speaker 1: find that some businesses that were maybe planning to open

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Speaker 1: decide not to.

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Speaker 2: You look, absolutely been the case previously, particularly restaurants and

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Speaker 2: those businesses that are impacted by those loadings on those days.

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Speaker 2: You know, we're finding that businesses just choose that it's

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Speaker 2: sometimes easier if they can't resource properly to keep the

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Speaker 2: door shut, which is a bit of a shame because

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Speaker 2: most people like to get out and enjoy some of

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Speaker 2: those social aspects over those festive times, and if those

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Speaker 2: options are limited, it does impact on e quality of life.

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Speaker 1: Now, Greg, every time we catch up, you and I

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Speaker 1: seem to talk about interest rate rises and we know

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Speaker 1: that we are expecting another one today. What impact are

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Speaker 1: these rate rises having here in the Northern Territory when

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Speaker 1: you talk about business operations?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, every increase Katie's is doing more and more damage

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Speaker 2: to the business's cost of operations, and that ultimately gets

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Speaker 2: passed on to the consumer. The same way the banks

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Speaker 2: pass on those interest rate rises to people with mortgages

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Speaker 2: very quickly, business has to do the same. So ultimately

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Speaker 2: it impacts all of us in our hip pockets. And

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Speaker 2: that is a trend that's been continuing for some time.

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Speaker 2: We hope there's a light at the end of that tunnel,

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Speaker 2: but that's still potentially a little way away.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we're all hoping that, And I suppose

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Speaker 1: what we've seen as well, Greg, is that the cost

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Speaker 1: of not only interest rates, but the cost of everything

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Speaker 1: seems to be on the rise. And I do wonder

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Speaker 1: are you finding that Northern territory businesses noticing that territories

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Speaker 1: are maybe not spending as much on that disposable income

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Speaker 1: that they might have previously had.

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Speaker 2: That's absolutely the case, Katie, that discretionary spending becomes contested

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Speaker 2: when you've got a pay extra on your mortgage and

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Speaker 2: the cost of base services that you just have to

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Speaker 2: pay for is increasing electricity and rental and so forth

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Speaker 2: the main contributing factors there. That means you less time

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Speaker 2: in the shops, spending and restaurants, etc. So it certainly

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Speaker 2: has an immediate flow on effect.

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Speaker 1: Well NT Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time. Thanks so much for having a chat with

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Speaker 1: me this morning.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie. You have a great day you too.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.