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Speaker 1: And well, major infrastructure projects in the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 1: around the country maybe impacted if actions not taken to

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Speaker 1: address a severe skills shortage in surveying. That is what

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Speaker 1: new data has revealed. Now joining me on the line

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Speaker 1: to tell us a little bit more about the situation

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Speaker 1: is the Consulting Survey ofs CEO Michelle Blitzervs. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Michelle, Good morning, Thanks so much for your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Michelle, tell us a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about this survey is shortage in the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 1: what it might mean.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so surveyors are pretty critical to everything that's being built,

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Speaker 2: from roads to bridges, to your houses to the high

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Speaker 2: rises that are going up. They're really critical across the

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Speaker 2: territory and unfortunately we just don't have enough surveys. In fact,

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Speaker 2: our latest research from bis Oxford Economics says that over

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Speaker 2: the next by twenty twenty five, we're going to be

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Speaker 2: short by one hundred and twenty nine surveyors and so

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Speaker 2: that's about equivalent to what the rest of the country

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Speaker 2: is facing, whereby we need to increase by about sixty

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Speaker 2: to seventy percent the numbers that we have coming into

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Speaker 2: the profession so that we can actually deliver the work

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Speaker 2: and build the roads and build the highways and build

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Speaker 2: the houses that we need the people in the territory

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Speaker 2: to live in.

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Speaker 1: So, in terms of projects that could be impacted, are

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Speaker 1: there any examples that you can sort of give our listeners.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, our surveyors are working on all of

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Speaker 2: the major projects around town, including Palmerston Pool, the Swell

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Speaker 2: project out there. They work on that. They'll be working out,

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Speaker 2: They'll be working out in Catherine, They'll be working all

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Speaker 2: across down in Alice, all across the territory. Any major

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Speaker 2: project that is currently underway, from roads, highways, they're working

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Speaker 2: on them. It's including new housing estates that may be

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Speaker 2: going up to how people who are influxing into the territory.

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Speaker 1: They're pretty critical, aren't they For any project, whether it's

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Speaker 1: a big one or a small one.

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Speaker 2: Well, they're critical because your house actually depends on it.

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Speaker 2: You know, the biggest investment we ever make is in

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Speaker 2: our home. And you want to make sure that when

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Speaker 2: that real estate agent tells you that you're buying either

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Speaker 2: seven hundred square meters or five acres, that it's actually

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Speaker 2: what they are telling you that it is, and only

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Speaker 2: a surveyor can measure that boundary and make sure that

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Speaker 2: your house is where it needs to be and that

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Speaker 2: you actually own the pool that's in the yard, because

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Speaker 2: sometimes there are stories and people who buy pools that

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Speaker 2: are in the maidor's yard.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, you'd be absolutely spewing if that happened.

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Speaker 2: You would indeed, or if the government owned part of

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Speaker 2: your road and it was a road reserve belonging.

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Speaker 1: To you, your spot on. Now, tell me in terms

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Speaker 1: of the number that we actually then need in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory to sort of address that shortfall. What are

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Speaker 1: we talking?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it goes up and up over the coming

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Speaker 2: ten years. Research has been done over ten years, so

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Speaker 2: we need both registered surveyors who are the ones who

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Speaker 2: can do your land tightly. And for that, you know

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Speaker 2: that we're going to peak with only needing another thirteen. Now,

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Speaker 2: that doesn't sound like very much, but that's about twenty

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Speaker 2: percent of what you've currently got. And so the problem

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Speaker 2: that we have is really in the technician space where

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Speaker 2: we need an additional sixty in the next two years,

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Speaker 2: and that's about a seventy percent increase, and the challenge

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Speaker 2: there is that there's no training available in the territory

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Speaker 2: for anybody to do any vocational education. So we've actually

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Speaker 2: created a program and we're really pleased that the Industry

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Speaker 2: Skills Council in the Northern Territory have come to the

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Speaker 2: party and they've been able to fund that so special

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Speaker 2: thanks to the government who have actually provided the funding.

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Speaker 2: They're providing eighty percent of the funding to help us

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Speaker 2: train ten young people youngish people in surveying and they're

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Speaker 2: going to start at the end of May, so we're

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Speaker 2: really excited about that. That helps us towards that six

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Speaker 2: people target. If we can get ten done this year

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Speaker 2: and ten the next, then we really are increasing that opportunity.

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Speaker 2: So surveying is a great career. It's one of the

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Speaker 2: best paying professions that you can be a part of.

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Speaker 2: And we want to encourage anybody to think about taking

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Speaker 2: up the course, take up the challenge and join us

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Speaker 2: and be a critical part of building the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: And do you reckon that'll be enough to address that

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Speaker 1: shortfall or could we be doing more?

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Speaker 2: Well, What we really need is the funding and as

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Speaker 2: I said, you know, the Industry's field countful have come

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Speaker 2: forward with that The challenge that we have is there's

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Speaker 2: no university course. So there's a technical component and then

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Speaker 2: there's a graduate component, but there is no university course,

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Speaker 2: so students need to study. Usually they study at the

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Speaker 2: University of Southern Queensland, but they can do that by

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Speaker 2: a distance because surveying is one of those professions that

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Speaker 2: you can actually study and work in at the same time,

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Speaker 2: so you can be paid to work while you study.

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Speaker 2: It's fabulous. You don't have to just go to university

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Speaker 2: and then hope get a job afterwards. We have one

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Speaker 2: hundred percent employment and so what more could we do.

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Speaker 2: I think that for us, most people don't know what

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Speaker 2: soveyors do. They don't know how important they are. They

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Speaker 2: might see a tripod on the side of the road

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Speaker 2: and wonder what that's all about, but actually that's only

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Speaker 2: a certain percentage of their work. They're using all sorts

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Speaker 2: of amazing data and technology and creating all sorts of

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Speaker 2: digital data that will be for the use in our future.

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Speaker 2: So it's a fabulous profession. We just want to get

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Speaker 2: the word out there and let people know that there's

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Speaker 2: a great job going. If anybody's looking, oh.

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Speaker 1: Good on you, Michelle Well by the sounds of things,

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Speaker 1: you guys are totally onto it, and despite the fact

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Speaker 1: that there is that shortage, there is some work happening

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes to try to make sure that it

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Speaker 1: doesn't impact the Northern Territory negatively.

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Speaker 2: That's certainly our goal and we're really pleased to have

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Speaker 2: this funding come through. In fact, the Northern Territory is

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Speaker 2: the only state that has provided any funding for this course,

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Speaker 2: so you are actually miles ahead of every other state

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Speaker 2: or territory in Australia. So congratulations to the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Well that is good to hear. Michelle, thank you so

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Speaker 1: very much for your time this morning. We really appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.