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Speaker 1: Well, as we heard a little bit earlier this morning

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Speaker 1: with the Minister Bill Yam, we know that Territory businesses

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Speaker 1: are set to save up to or almost sixty nine

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars every year through this new payroll tax reform.

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Speaker 1: The new government is delivering on its election commitment removing

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Speaker 1: payroll tax for about two hundred businesses, enticing them to

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Speaker 1: employ more staff. Well, that's certainly the aim. Now joining

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Speaker 1: us on the line to talk a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about this and the changes is the Northern Territory Chamber

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Speaker 1: of Commerce CEO Greg Island. Good morning to you, Greg, Good.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie, Good morning listers.

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Speaker 1: Now, Greg, you and I had obviously spoken in the

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Speaker 1: lead up to the election about the changes to payroll

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Speaker 1: tax and it being a good thing. Looks as though

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Speaker 1: it's going to come into place from January next year.

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Speaker 1: How are you feeling about it?

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Speaker 2: Look, we're feeling very very positive Katie. It was certainly

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Speaker 2: on the top of the list for chambers which list

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Speaker 2: for this election outcome and very pleased at the COLP

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Speaker 2: opted that opportunity early and plus adding the apprentices and

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Speaker 2: trainee dispensation on top of that as well as just

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Speaker 2: been welcomed by business. Conversations that I'm happening all the

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Speaker 2: time are very much focused on the benefit for the

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Speaker 2: business to reinvest that money back into their staff, be

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Speaker 2: it more staff, be it training, better facilities. It's a

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Speaker 2: win for all of the business community.

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Speaker 1: How big a difference do you reckon it is going

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Speaker 1: to make for some business operators?

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Speaker 2: Look, it's substantial when you talk about that sort of

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Speaker 2: sixty thousand dollars market, It's a not a considerable sum

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Speaker 2: of money to reinvest back into. As I said before,

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Speaker 2: additional training, additional facilities. It can make a difference to

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Speaker 2: your ability to recruit staff and employ additional staff. So

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Speaker 2: I think it's going to an important factor as the

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Speaker 2: smaller businesses need to step up to support some of

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Speaker 2: these larger projects that are coming our ways.

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Speaker 1: And in terms of what business signers and operators are

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Speaker 1: saying to you at this point in time, do you

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Speaker 1: reckon that it will result in them employing more staff

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Speaker 1: or potentially expanding those businesses.

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Speaker 2: I think that's absolutely the case, Katie. People are quite

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Speaker 2: buoyant around what's been happening since the changing government. They

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Speaker 2: can see that these projects are coming and your territory

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Speaker 2: business has been doing it tough for a while, so

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Speaker 2: to have some freed up capital to invest in what

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Speaker 2: is going to grow your business is forefront of their

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Speaker 2: minds at.

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Speaker 1: The moment and when you touched on it a moment ago, Greg,

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Speaker 1: just in relation to the changes or the exemptions on

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Speaker 1: payroll tax for apprentices and trainees, what kind of difference

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Speaker 1: do you reckon that's going to.

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Speaker 2: Make One of our key challenges moving forward, Katie, is

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Speaker 2: workforce and particularly skilled workforce. So as a former business

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Speaker 2: owner myself and having this policy, which is breed your

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Speaker 2: own staff rather than recruit them. It takes a bit longer,

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Speaker 2: it takes a bit more effort, but you end up

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Speaker 2: with people trained the way you want them trained, You

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Speaker 2: end up with sort of developing loyalty into your business.

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Speaker 2: It just works out much much better. So for some

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Speaker 2: concessions around that to be included as well is a

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Speaker 2: bonus for business that are prepared to make that investment.

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Speaker 1: So does it sort of incentivize operators to put on

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Speaker 1: more apprentices and trainees or you know what does it mean?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly helps. It's just reducing overall costs of

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Speaker 2: doing business for those businesses that are paying payroll tax

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Speaker 2: and to have putting on extra apprentices isn't this incentive?

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Speaker 2: And that's why we're I guess a bit anti payroll tax.

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Speaker 2: But ultimately we still believe that the government revenues are

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Speaker 2: going to be maintained, if not increase, just through the

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Speaker 2: physical project activity and the more people working on those

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Speaker 2: larger projects. So we're looking forward to win on both

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Speaker 2: sides of the fence.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, let's hope. So I think we're all sort of

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Speaker 1: you know, we're wanting that positivity. We want to things

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Speaker 1: to get cracking along. Hey, before I let you go, Greg,

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Speaker 1: what do you think of the fact that the government,

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Speaker 1: the Treasurer and the under Treasurer obviously holding that event

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Speaker 1: on Monday morning, a big public event allowing Territorians to

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Speaker 1: come in and get a better look at the Territori's

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Speaker 1: finances and the way our budget's looking.

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Speaker 2: Well. Look, I think transparency is fantastic for government, and

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Speaker 2: obviously if you're going to be a new government coming

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Speaker 2: into power, it's getting that transparency sooner other than later.

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Speaker 2: Resetch your starting point. You know, you've got somewhere to

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Speaker 2: go from here, and you've got some credibility around that

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Speaker 2: reporting I think that's a significant effort by Greasury and

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Speaker 2: the Treasurer to make that happen, so certainly support that

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff. Well, Greg Island. Always good to catch

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Speaker 1: up with you. Thanks so much for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie. I'm busy preparing for our lunch with Lord,

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Speaker 2: both of them at the moment, so we're in for

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Speaker 2: a fantastic day.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff. We'll have fundation, no doubt, it'll be a

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Speaker 1: good lunch.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, awesome, thank you.