1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,200
Speaker 1: We just heard from the Chief Minister Michael Gunner a

2
00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:06,680
Speaker 1: little while ago that the Apple Store isn't ready yet

3
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,680
Speaker 1: with the QR code. You're able to obviously get your

4
00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,160
Speaker 1: QR code app and get the app on Android, but

5
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,240
Speaker 1: not on an Apple phone yet, so it does seem

6
00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,720
Speaker 1: like a bit of a stuff up. The Chief Minister

7
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,799
Speaker 1: said that the government's done everything that they can do

8
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,880
Speaker 1: to try to get that happening as quickly as possible.

9
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,440
Speaker 1: In the meantime, obviously businesses are going to be using

10
00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,840
Speaker 1: some good old fashioned pen and paper now. There's lots

11
00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:33,919
Speaker 1: of other messages coming through on the text line and.

12
00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:34,480
Speaker 2: Keep them coming.

13
00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,000
Speaker 1: We always enjoy reading those out zero four one eighth nine,

14
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,560
Speaker 1: five seven, three six nine, but on the QR codes well.

15
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,600
Speaker 1: Joining us right now on the line. Hospitality NT CEO

16
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:50,239
Speaker 1: Alex Bruce, Good morning, Alex, Good morning Katy Alex. From

17
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,720
Speaker 1: my understanding, quite well, the majority of businesses are pretty

18
00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,480
Speaker 1: well ready to go with the QR cod card QR.

19
00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,280
Speaker 2: Code changes today. But what are you hearing?

20
00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,120
Speaker 3: Are you so a few emails and calls into the

21
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,559
Speaker 3: office this morning, just when people similarly to your listeners

22
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,760
Speaker 3: couldn't find it on the Apple Store as far as

23
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 3: i'm a where most of the venues have been contacted

24
00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,320
Speaker 3: that they needed to be the gyms, the swimming pools,

25
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,560
Speaker 3: our restaurants, pub clubs over the last few days and

26
00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,120
Speaker 3: they've got their QR signs printed out ready to go.

27
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,759
Speaker 3: You might see today some of them will use it

28
00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:32,800
Speaker 3: with only Google customers being able to complete that. And

29
00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,280
Speaker 3: alongside it, the government's actually provided a written register that

30
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,800
Speaker 3: will be getting printed out and put up everywhere for

31
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,800
Speaker 3: people to manually enter enter until the Apple Store comes

32
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,720
Speaker 3: good or alternatively, people like Snapper Rocks as the example,

33
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,200
Speaker 3: they've been on a different QR system for over a week.

34
00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,640
Speaker 3: They'll probably keep that in place until this thing's resolved

35
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:56,640
Speaker 3: over the next couple of days.

36
00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:58,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it seems like a bit of a

37
00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,040
Speaker 1: stuff up so the Apple Store, well for the Apple

38
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,720
Speaker 1: app to not be ready to go, given the fact

39
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,240
Speaker 1: that those QR codes are meant to be implemented today.

40
00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,839
Speaker 3: On this we do have a bit of sympathy for

41
00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,880
Speaker 3: the government because it was about a month ago, you know,

42
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,079
Speaker 3: that they went public and said that they were looking

43
00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 3: at enforcing contact tracing effective today. They didn't have an

44
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,639
Speaker 3: app ready and they indicated would be unlikely to move

45
00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,240
Speaker 3: it along that quickly for today's date. We were part

46
00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,040
Speaker 3: of the advocacy behind the scenes, asking for them, if

47
00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,800
Speaker 3: at all possible, to try and push the timeframes. We

48
00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,760
Speaker 3: didn't want to see too much investment in other systems

49
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,040
Speaker 3: for a week or two then for a government app

50
00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 3: to be made available. We actually thought it was better

51
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:49,600
Speaker 3: for customers in terms of their privacy and their data

52
00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,200
Speaker 3: and not having to enter multiple multiple times you name

53
00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,520
Speaker 3: a number everywhere. So they did that and I know

54
00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,440
Speaker 3: that they were pulling out. You know, everything had to

55
00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,079
Speaker 3: go right for today to work, but if it's a

56
00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,280
Speaker 3: day or two later, you know, we've got this for

57
00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,960
Speaker 3: twelve months. It's not too big in the scheme of

58
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:07,600
Speaker 3: things from our.

59
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,840
Speaker 1: Perspective, and you can always use your pen and paper

60
00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,359
Speaker 1: if needed, can't they that's it.

61
00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,079
Speaker 3: And that will be part of the system anyway for

62
00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,200
Speaker 3: people that don't want to give their details. And it

63
00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,640
Speaker 3: was interesting. One of the pubs was trialing just another

64
00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,760
Speaker 3: system last week and they will be coming onto the

65
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,840
Speaker 3: government one when it's ready, but just to gauge what

66
00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,120
Speaker 3: the customers were like out Palmerston Way, and the reality

67
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,680
Speaker 3: of it was people with smartphones weren't confident with that

68
00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,880
Speaker 3: system where the data wasn't being retained directly by government

69
00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,520
Speaker 3: and they were actually choosing the notepad and pen.

70
00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 2: All right, there you go.

71
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,880
Speaker 1: So some people are a little bit worried, even though

72
00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,520
Speaker 1: a lot of us share probably more information on our

73
00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:48,920
Speaker 1: Facebook pages.

74
00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,000
Speaker 3: Google Maps knows where we are at all times.

75
00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a bit of irony there, but I understand

76
00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,800
Speaker 1: people's concerns obviously with their with their security, totally get it.

77
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,360
Speaker 1: So so on a whole ALEXA are most businesses feeling

78
00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,560
Speaker 1: fairly comfortable and confident today, I think.

79
00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,440
Speaker 3: So we're just as customers in the public to bear

80
00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:14,640
Speaker 3: with us. If you find a place that you think

81
00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,240
Speaker 3: should be part of the system and they're not, please

82
00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,680
Speaker 3: just go up and talk to them. You know, some

83
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:27,000
Speaker 3: some people's email contact details from six months ago when

84
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,919
Speaker 3: they first submitted their COVID plans, that person may have

85
00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,560
Speaker 3: moved on that business might not have been given all

86
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,560
Speaker 3: the information than they needed to over the past three days.

87
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,240
Speaker 3: So you know, let's just all get used to this

88
00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,479
Speaker 3: over this next week or so. And and doctor Hugh

89
00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:44,080
Speaker 3: Heggy has been pretty good as well. He said that

90
00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,719
Speaker 3: you know, environmental health will be out and about educating

91
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,960
Speaker 3: businesses and the public. They're not they're not going to

92
00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:50,040
Speaker 3: be out there with the big stick.

93
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that realistically we've all got to

94
00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:55,600
Speaker 1: work together here, particularly when we know that we are

95
00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,239
Speaker 1: opening up effectively to all of Australia today.

96
00:04:58,240 --> 00:04:59,760
Speaker 2: There's no declared hotspots.

97
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:01,280
Speaker 1: That's it.

98
00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,000
Speaker 3: You saw that beautiful photo in the paper where it

99
00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,679
Speaker 3: looked like Ronnie was enjoying more than just retail therapy.

100
00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,360
Speaker 3: She can now be joined by milburnion.

101
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:12,600
Speaker 2: Well, that's it.

102
00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:14,840
Speaker 1: There will be plenty of people traveling to the territory,

103
00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:17,360
Speaker 1: no doubt. Hey, Alex, I want to ask you about

104
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,479
Speaker 1: the changes to public holidays now. We know that on

105
00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,839
Speaker 1: Friday it was announced that there'd be changes to public holidays,

106
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,440
Speaker 1: the Chief Minister declaring that Saturday, the twenty sixth of

107
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,400
Speaker 1: December would now be a public holiday. So under current legislation,

108
00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,200
Speaker 1: if Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, that public holidays

109
00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,600
Speaker 1: actually observed on the following Monday, and there's no official

110
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,760
Speaker 1: public holiday on the Saturday. So essentially what this change

111
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 1: means is that there's now two public holidays for Boxing Day.

112
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:48,360
Speaker 2: That's my understanding.

113
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,400
Speaker 1: What's your take and what's been the response from businesses.

114
00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,440
Speaker 3: Look, we appreciate you know, hands up, who wants an

115
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:02,159
Speaker 3: extra holiday. You'll get very popular support for that. But

116
00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,800
Speaker 3: this doesn't impact any of the salaried permanent workers, be

117
00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:11,719
Speaker 3: it the public or private sectors. It really does hit

118
00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 3: and hurt hospitality sector. We weren't provided the opportunity to

119
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,400
Speaker 3: give any submissions on this one. Did seemed to be

120
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:27,400
Speaker 3: a done deal, cooked up somewhere and just implemented at

121
00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,120
Speaker 3: a convenient take out the trash Friday. But look, the

122
00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,320
Speaker 3: reality is for our sector, it's got some perverse impact.

123
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:40,320
Speaker 3: Sticularly in that restaurant cafe space. If you've got owner operators,

124
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,440
Speaker 3: this means they largely can't afford staff on the day,

125
00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,960
Speaker 3: so either they will be in their businesses again behind

126
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,840
Speaker 3: the till on the tools, or they just taking another

127
00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,280
Speaker 3: day to close. And those in the restaurant cafe space

128
00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,840
Speaker 3: that are open customers will probably find a bit more

129
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,640
Speaker 3: like another day of menu surcharges. By the time you

130
00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,360
Speaker 3: move to the pub's clubs, the accommodation hotels, you know,

131
00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,640
Speaker 3: they're largely would open and remain open throughout that period,

132
00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,520
Speaker 3: So this is just another hit for them to absorb.

133
00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:13,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, It's a really tough one.

134
00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:13,680
Speaker 3: You know.

135
00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:15,520
Speaker 1: I thought about this on Friday, and I've got to

136
00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,040
Speaker 1: say that during the week that was it was realistically

137
00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,160
Speaker 1: the first set a lot of us were hearing about it,

138
00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,960
Speaker 1: and also for a lot of business people who listened

139
00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:24,560
Speaker 1: to the show, it was the first time that they

140
00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,360
Speaker 1: were hearing that this public holiday had been declared. And

141
00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,080
Speaker 1: you know, you initially think to yourself, well, good, if

142
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,080
Speaker 1: I was working in retail, or if I was working,

143
00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,160
Speaker 1: you know, as a casual employee, it would be wonderful

144
00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:36,760
Speaker 1: to get paid those penalty rates.

145
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,239
Speaker 2: But then you go, how is this actually going.

146
00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,960
Speaker 1: To impact businesses who've already had an incredibly tough year.

147
00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, And what you'll find in our industry at least is,

148
00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:51,880
Speaker 3: you know, we had some of the highest wage cut

149
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,400
Speaker 3: rates across the world, and it does impact you know,

150
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,280
Speaker 3: you're seeing some of the viability of restaurant networks down

151
00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:04,000
Speaker 3: South challenged over the last few years, well before COVID.

152
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,120
Speaker 3: So with that owner operator, with their permanent staff, it

153
00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,720
Speaker 3: means another day for them working away from their families

154
00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,960
Speaker 3: and friends. And if anything, less casual employed, a casual

155
00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,000
Speaker 3: also misses out on the opportunity.

156
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,640
Speaker 1: To work then when you talk about it from a

157
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,280
Speaker 1: financial perspective, for those businesses that are still going to

158
00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,600
Speaker 1: have to, you know, to pay their casual employees penalty rates,

159
00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:29,680
Speaker 1: how much could this be costing.

160
00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 2: Them for the day.

161
00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:34,800
Speaker 3: For some of the larger places, it would be multiple

162
00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,679
Speaker 3: thousands of dollars, But it's more when you look at

163
00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,160
Speaker 3: some of those more small micro businesses at our tourism

164
00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 3: hospitality end of the network, they were already looking at,

165
00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,959
Speaker 3: you know, between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day now

166
00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:52,760
Speaker 3: eight days, there's only two days of normal rates in there.

167
00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,560
Speaker 3: So with this change, it's probably solidified a decision that

168
00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,880
Speaker 3: some of them may have been considering anyway on when

169
00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:01,320
Speaker 3: to close and for how long.

170
00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:03,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the tough part.

171
00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:08,839
Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce from Hospitality Int CEO of Hospitality NT

172
00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,520
Speaker 1: always good to catch up with you. I really appreciate

173
00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,080
Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thanks Alex,