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Speaker 1: Now, the government's announcement last week around alcohol changes took

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Speaker 1: many by surprise, especially those in the hospitality sector, with

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Speaker 1: the announcement that opening hours for bottle shops would be reduced.

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Speaker 1: Opening hours are set to change from ten am until

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Speaker 1: twelve noon, so pushed back to twelve noon for a

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Speaker 1: number of those takeaway outlets across Darwin and Palmerston. So

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Speaker 1: what impact is it going to have for workers those

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Speaker 1: retail workers that work in those takeaway outlets. Well, joining

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Speaker 1: us in the studio right now as the head of

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Speaker 1: the SDA here in the Northern Territory, Shlock Sharma, good

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Speaker 1: morning to your Schlock.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thanks so much.

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Speaker 1: For your time. Now, Schlock, was the SDA consulted on

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Speaker 1: the changes before the announcement was made?

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Speaker 2: Look, Katie, like a lot of other organizations, we weren't

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Speaker 2: consulted on this announce on this announcement, which is disappointing. Obviously.

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Speaker 2: You know, there is a significant cohort of the workforce

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Speaker 2: that we represent in bottle shops and we certainly fell

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Speaker 2: to that bear view. Who's should have been presented to

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Speaker 2: government prior to these changes being made. Look, you know

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Speaker 2: the government has acknowledged that with hindsight, they should have

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Speaker 2: done a better job in consulting. We accept them on

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Speaker 2: their word for that, Like true be told, over the

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Speaker 2: last twelve months, they have been pretty proactive in consulting

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Speaker 2: us about any changes in our sector. Ye, and it's

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Speaker 2: disappointing that we were consulted this time, But moving forward,

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Speaker 2: we certainly are hopeful that they will learn their lesson

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Speaker 2: and at least engage with us on things that affect

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Speaker 2: our membership.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon that's a really good point, you know,

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Speaker 1: like just letting people know exactly what's going on, you know,

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Speaker 1: a bit further than a few hours before, so that

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Speaker 1: you can actually let your industry know as well. Or

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Speaker 1: you've got some of the answers for industry and for

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Speaker 1: workers then as they are those questions of you, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Look that's right, And look to the industry's credit, you know,

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Speaker 2: they are working proactively with their workforce to see, you know,

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Speaker 2: if they can give them extra hours at a different slot,

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Speaker 2: especially coming up to the Christmas period. We know there's

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Speaker 2: going to be a lot of work around. But look,

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Speaker 2: have we all being consulted earlier that work could have

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Speaker 2: been done now and we probably would see some less

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Speaker 2: anxious workers in our bottle shop right right now, because

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Speaker 2: there are a few of them that are concerned that

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Speaker 2: they're going to lose their hours and never get them back.

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Speaker 2: And it is other than you know that the media

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Speaker 2: release that was put out and some information on Facebook.

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Speaker 2: It's the changes having to really trickle down all the

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Speaker 2: way to the workforce. Like we're still going into stores

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Speaker 2: and telling asking people, hey, you know you're a morning worker.

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Speaker 2: You know your hour is going to be impacted, and

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Speaker 2: you know, they're coming back to us and saying, what

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Speaker 2: are you talking about, and some of them don't even know. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: some of them don't even know, and you know we're

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Speaker 2: a week away from it, and yeah, it's it is

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Speaker 2: causing a bit of angst. Well.

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Speaker 1: Look, one of the messages that we got from one

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Speaker 1: of our listeners was good morning Katie on the bottle

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Speaker 1: shop hours. We still have not had any clarification on

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Speaker 1: what stores are going to be affected or not. As

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Speaker 1: far as we know, we're going to be closed for

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Speaker 1: an extra ten hours a week. For myself, it's eight

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Speaker 1: hours lost, which equates roughly two hundred dollars out of pocket,

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Speaker 1: which is almost twenty percent of my pay right before Christmas.

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Speaker 1: This is in comparison, this person says, you know, to

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister, who's going to get paid right over

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Speaker 1: the Christmas period. But I mean, what is it going

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Speaker 1: to mean for workers from that real hip pocket, Since

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Speaker 1: it's obviously going to it's going to have a hit,

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Speaker 1: maybe not as much throughout the month of December as

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Speaker 1: what it potentially could have in January if it does continue.

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Speaker 2: Look, I mean there is a cohort of the workforce

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Speaker 2: that literally just can't change their hours obviously, you know,

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Speaker 2: working in a bottleshop for many people as a second job,

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Speaker 2: or it's you know, for whatever reason, they can only

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Speaker 2: work part time hours during that period any way. So yeah, look,

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Speaker 2: I mean for some people there will be an impact.

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Speaker 2: What is creating a bit of uncertainty in the sector

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Speaker 2: is what will happen post January when these laws are reviewed.

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Speaker 2: We know a lot of retailers can accommodate our extra

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Speaker 2: hours for stuff just because you know, we're expecting a

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Speaker 2: bump of period during Christmas. But you know, when you

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Speaker 2: come into January as things start quietening down, whether or

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Speaker 2: not these whether or not they can still accommodate those

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Speaker 2: extra hours no one's sure about. And obviously, you know,

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Speaker 2: there are some people that have caring responsibilities. They've got

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Speaker 2: to do the school pickup and they can't really work

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Speaker 2: past two o'clock. And you know, you know, a lot

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Speaker 2: of places can't roster somebody save from twelve to two.

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Speaker 2: So look, we're hopeful that you know, prior to any

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Speaker 2: permanent changes being made, that there will be the opportunity

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Speaker 2: to consult government on it.

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Speaker 1: Sociallock, we're too from here from the SDi's perspective.

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Speaker 2: Look, I mean, in the short term, we're just calling

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Speaker 2: on retailers to work with their stuff and you know,

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Speaker 2: slot them in where possible. Look, moving forward, like I said,

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Speaker 2: I think there is a conversation to be had about

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Speaker 2: whether or not going from ten to twelve is the

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Speaker 2: right move. I think, you know, workers generally accept that

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Speaker 2: sometimes you know, trade needs to be reduced to make

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Speaker 2: their workplaces safe and make the community safer. We know that,

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Speaker 2: you know, retailers need to play their part, but we

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Speaker 2: still think that, you know, the voices of workers should

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Speaker 2: be at the table at the end of the day.

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Speaker 2: As that listener texted in two hundred bucks, losing two

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Speaker 2: hundred bucks can be huge for these workers. I mean

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Speaker 2: for some people, that can literally be the difference between

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Speaker 2: making rent this week. That's right, you know, our workforce

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Speaker 2: hasn't been a minon from the cost of living pressures

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Speaker 2: that everybody else is facing. So the coll the core

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Speaker 2: on the government is just simply look, just have a

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Speaker 2: chat to us, you know, chat to the retailers too,

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Speaker 2: and let's see if you know, we can all move

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Speaker 2: forward together and come to an agreement on what's what

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Speaker 2: the best pathway forward is.

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Speaker 1: Well, Schlock Sharma. Always good to catch up with you

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Speaker 1: from the SDA. Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,