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Speaker 1: Hospitality and CEO Alex Bruce. Good morning to you. Alex.

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Speaker 2: Good hey Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now Alex, some changes or we're certainly set for a

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Speaker 1: bit of a shakeup, the government saying when it comes

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Speaker 1: to red tape and the way that we do business,

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Speaker 1: to try to make business as easy as possible to

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Speaker 1: do here in the Northern Territory. What was your initial reaction.

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Speaker 2: I look very positive. Not so much about new applicants

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Speaker 2: or whatever, which is important and that'll go through all

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Speaker 2: the processes. But what we hear from our existing businesses

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Speaker 2: that employ a lot of locals are the red tape

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Speaker 2: just to do anything creative on their spaces. The example

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Speaker 2: that I'd give, and I know you speak to him

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Speaker 2: regularly as well, is Tony out at Nunamar Cabin. Yep.

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Speaker 2: He provides a really good rodeo product. I think everyone

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Speaker 2: knows that quite well, and he has to jump through

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Speaker 2: and wade through an enormous pool of red tape every year.

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Speaker 2: So yep, we throw things like that on the table

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Speaker 2: and we'd love to see some of that tidied up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. You make a very good point there, and this

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Speaker 1: is the whole thing. Even those businesses that are already established.

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Speaker 1: You want to make sure that if they try to

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Speaker 1: think outside the box and do things a little bit differently,

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Speaker 1: that they're actually supported rather than hindered.

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Speaker 2: That's it. And in our space, in the liquor licensing space,

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Speaker 2: often it's easier to go and be a brand new

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Speaker 2: pop up somewhere than a pub look to activate a

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Speaker 2: laneway next door or do something like that. So we've

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Speaker 2: always said, as they lower the red tape, we want

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Speaker 2: there to be equity throughout. So it is about innovation

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Speaker 2: wherever that is in the marketplace.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's like I said, that is a very good point,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we need to make sure that our

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Speaker 1: territory businesses are supported. I know that the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: had said earlier on the show they're looking at creating

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Speaker 1: a concierge position. Do you think that's enough or do

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Speaker 1: you think that we really need something like a coordinator

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Speaker 1: general as had been mentioned by Greg Island from the

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Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I listened to Greg and I think I'm in

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Speaker 2: unity with him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that we'll probably find that a

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Speaker 1: lot of business people are and that you know, we

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Speaker 1: need somebody there who's able to sort of not just

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Speaker 1: listen to concerns, but maybe progress them a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: But no doubt there'll be some more detail on these

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Speaker 1: changes as they come to hand. Now we know that

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Speaker 1: there's also the announcement in the last couple of last

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Speaker 1: couple of days and also this morning about the New

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Speaker 1: Zealand and Northern Territory travel bubble, and also about the

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Speaker 1: potential of well Country Victoria or regional Victoria opening up

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Speaker 1: in the next few weeks. How are you feeling about

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Speaker 1: that from a hospitality perspective?

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Speaker 2: Look positive. I know there'd be people in our industry

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Speaker 2: that would say, well, that would have been nicer for

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Speaker 2: the dry season, but you know, the reality is we're

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Speaker 2: living for a pandemic and every single one of these

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Speaker 2: announcements brings confidence and hope back into the industry, and

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Speaker 2: we're actually looking at it as an opportunity. We want those

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Speaker 2: cooks and chefs working in those jurisdictions up here, and

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Speaker 2: we want them now. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean in terms of that, when you talk

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Speaker 1: about the cooks and chefs, how tough is it for

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Speaker 1: some of our hospitality businesses at the moment not being

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Speaker 1: able to have them here in the territory.

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Speaker 2: A look so we did a survey two weeks ago

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Speaker 2: and we're a bit surprised by the results. Already, we've

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Speaker 2: got about forty percent of our surveyed responses looking for

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Speaker 2: additional staff, and they're splitting their focus between anything they

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Speaker 2: can get local is the first priority and interstate and

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Speaker 2: that ramps up to about sixty percent of all of

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Speaker 2: our businesses peaking in about you know, February March April

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Speaker 2: next year. No surprises there as they're all gearing up

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Speaker 2: towards hopefully a bumper dry season next year. So you know,

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Speaker 2: it's incredibly important we get as much as we can locally.

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Speaker 2: And that's why the federal governments announcement that from today,

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Speaker 2: any of our businesses, just like in any other sector

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Speaker 2: that does want to you know, put their money where

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Speaker 2: their mouth is and employ a territory and into their

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Speaker 2: business on our apprenticeship, is going to be incentivilized to

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Speaker 2: do that. And the other side of it is as

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Speaker 2: we get some other of these New Zealand and regional

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Speaker 2: Victoria opening, we will absolutely be aggressively targeting the skilled

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Speaker 2: workers that are in those jurisdictions.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and this is it. As you've touched on,

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Speaker 1: we know the Prime Minister he's got this new one

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Speaker 1: point two billion dollar apprentice wage subsidy scheme. It's more

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Speaker 1: than half of businesses looking to recruit new stuff in

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Speaker 1: the coming months. Well that's sort of the hope, I

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Speaker 1: guess will be eligible. Just how big a game changer

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Speaker 1: is this for the hospitality industry.

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Speaker 2: Look, we think it's crucial because it'll be no surprise

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Speaker 2: to you or the listeners. You know, we are quite

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Speaker 2: reliant on international skilled workers in our sector and a

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Speaker 2: lot of them got stood down and sent home or

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Speaker 2: of transing and it moved on. We still have some

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Speaker 2: connected in our businesses up here, but not enough for

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Speaker 2: a bump a couple of peak seasons which we're hoping for.

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Speaker 2: So with the international picture still very unclear, we really

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Speaker 2: need local territory and workforce and interstate workforce to be

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Speaker 2: as strong as it can be.

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Speaker 1: Alex. Just finally, this morning, we have been speaking about

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Speaker 1: some of the concerns in Alice Springs at the moment

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Speaker 1: that we're being told about when it comes to crime.

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Speaker 1: Are you hearing much from the hospitality sector at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I was down there a couple of weeks

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Speaker 2: ago too, So I'll probably high fight Gregor on the

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Speaker 2: highways Someway speaking to restaurants, the accommodation, the pubs and

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Speaker 2: clubs in town. Unfortunately, crime is the number one issue

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Speaker 2: that you can put on these other other events to

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Speaker 2: try and attract bona fide tourists, even intrastate or intra

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Speaker 2: territory tourists from dalw and down. But got to get

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Speaker 2: a better handle on the crime first, is the message

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Speaker 2: out here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Alex Bruce, the CEO of Hospitality NT, we

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Speaker 1: always appreciate your time mate, thanks for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us today, Kes. We thank you.