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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line from Alice Springs, Tourism Central

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Speaker 1: Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning to you, Daniel.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to you listen.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show now, Daniel. We

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Speaker 1: know this Job Summit or Jobs and Skills Summit federally

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Speaker 1: is about to get underway later in the week. What

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Speaker 1: are you guys out of Central Australia hoping to see

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Speaker 1: from this summit.

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Speaker 2: Well, as you know, Katie, our industry is rebounding from

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Speaker 2: the difficult days of the pandemic and we're certainly experiencing

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Speaker 2: significant labor shortages within the tourism and hospitality industries, and

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Speaker 2: I know that's been built up in Darwin as well.

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Speaker 2: So you know, we're looking for real and tangible solutions

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Speaker 2: that can be enacted sooner rather than later out of

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Speaker 2: this summit. And you know we've got members saying to

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Speaker 2: me right now that they need many, many staff to

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Speaker 2: fill the void.

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Speaker 1: Daniel, how do you think we're going to do that?

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Speaker 1: Does it come down to just sort of you know,

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Speaker 1: I know that in the past who said let's get

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Speaker 1: gray nomads to work. Let's try to get people from

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Speaker 1: other States. But is it a situation here where we

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Speaker 1: need to actually have people coming in from overseas to

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Speaker 1: work as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Look, I think there's clearly four key key

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Speaker 2: initiatives out of the summit that we're certainly looking for.

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Speaker 2: Ones of course that increasing the cap of migration and

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Speaker 2: that's certainly a bit of a no brainer in the

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Speaker 2: current climate. I think also extending and supporting the Pacific

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Speaker 2: Labor Mobility Program. You know, there's been much talk about

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Speaker 2: the Pacific at the moment and the rise of China.

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Speaker 2: You know, no better way in our national interest to

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Speaker 2: develop greater ties with the Pacific than of the opportunity

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Speaker 2: of employment in Australia. I think the grainomads as you've

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Speaker 2: touched on, you know, making sure the pension rules get

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Speaker 2: relaxed to allow people to work a little bit extra

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Speaker 2: there's a huge especially in the tourism sector. You know,

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Speaker 2: a lot of people hitch up the van and come

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Speaker 2: to the Northern Territory to be able to work a

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Speaker 2: few more extra hours and not lose the pension is

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Speaker 2: probably a good thing and certainly the biggest one for

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Speaker 2: us here in the Northern Tier Tree is about how

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Speaker 2: we work with our indigenous communities to encourage workforce participation

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Speaker 2: and that's a big one, and you know, that's probably

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Speaker 2: the hardest of all for in my opinion, the most important.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and look it seems it does seem to me, Daniel,

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Speaker 1: you know, you and I have spoken about this situation

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Speaker 1: with the skill shortage and job shortage for such a

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Speaker 1: long period of time. It just seems, you know, to

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Speaker 1: me that we're obviously going through this skill summit and

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Speaker 1: job summit, which is is a good thing on the

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Speaker 1: face of it, but you know, how quickly can we

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Speaker 1: actually see some action here because that is what people need,

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Speaker 1: They actually need people in jobs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very much. I look, the Northern Territory government has

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Speaker 2: been putting in place of our theories of different initiatives

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Speaker 2: and funding and you know that's been very admirable. But look,

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Speaker 2: a lot of the challenges are at that macro level

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Speaker 2: and have to be dealt with by the federal governments.

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Speaker 2: You know, I think that's where this summit is crucial,

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Speaker 2: and I'm hopeful that you know, we'll certainly see action

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Speaker 2: pretty soon thereafter because you know, one of the things

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Speaker 2: that has done with this some of whose build expectation

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Speaker 2: and you know, we want to see we want to

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Speaker 2: see real change, and we want to see it really quickly.

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Speaker 2: So you know, I'm ever the optimist and I hope

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Speaker 2: that we'll start to see that.

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Speaker 1: Hey, last time we spoke, you had talked us through

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Speaker 1: some fantastic numbers. When it comes to tourism in Central Australia,

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Speaker 1: how are things going at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're starting a bit like you guys up there.

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Speaker 2: In our events season here, we've had the hendling On

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Speaker 2: Todd record numbers, we had some amazing events. It was

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Speaker 2: no vacancy right across the town over the weekend, and

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Speaker 2: of course we're leading into the Red Center, NATS and

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Speaker 2: then of course Desert Song, Desert Festival and Desert Mob.

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Speaker 2: So it's alive and well here in Central Australia. You know,

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Speaker 2: I courage all the folk up in the top ends

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Speaker 2: that hitch the van or come down and experience our

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Speaker 2: many great events.

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Speaker 1: And how's it going then with the hotels? Have you

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Speaker 1: heard of hotels putting caps on guest numbers or anything

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Speaker 1: like that.

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Speaker 2: Point, No, they're pretty much relaxed that. But you know,

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Speaker 2: we're starting to get at capacity. So you know, for instance,

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Speaker 2: the events that we had over the last weekend. You know,

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Speaker 2: we had people camping at Black Sky Park and in

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Speaker 2: our overflow areas, so you know we are pretty much

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Speaker 2: at capacity. So but you know, certainly encourage anyone interested

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Speaker 2: coming down to the events to book early.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well it sounds like you definitely need to Daniel Rochford.

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Speaker 1: It's always good to catch up with you, mate. I

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. And let's hope that these

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Speaker 1: Jobs and Skills Summit sees some real change for us

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory and an ability to get people

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Speaker 1: into jobs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not just a hope now, it's a need

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Speaker 2: and let's hope all our political leaders can see that

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Speaker 2: vision for us. So yeah, he's hoping.

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Speaker 1: Hey, just on the number of jobs that you do need, Phil,

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Speaker 1: what's the latest.

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Speaker 2: We're thinking it's around the three hundred marks, which has

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Speaker 2: come down significantly. I remember talking to you about and

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Speaker 2: saying it at one stage we had a thousand voyages

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Speaker 2: have I think got a one hundred and fifty from

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Speaker 2: the specific labor mobility program and so it's the Gooday group.

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Speaker 2: So you know that we've certainly reduced from the peak

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Speaker 2: that we were requiring which is why we've been able

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Speaker 2: to open to full capacity. But still three hundred that's

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Speaker 2: a lot of people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a lot of people, lots of you know,

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Speaker 1: lots of positions that if you're not able to fill them,

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Speaker 1: it has an impact on the workforce in so many

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Speaker 1: different ways.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And look, I think the guys are doing an

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Speaker 2: absolute admirable job to make sure customer service remains as

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Speaker 2: high as we can possibly get. But you know, there's

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Speaker 2: only so much pressure that can be built up. And

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Speaker 2: I was speaking to just one operator on Friday who said,

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Speaker 2: you know, he desperately needs three He's a small business person,

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Speaker 2: but he needs three or four staff and you can

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Speaker 2: see the pressure building on his face, you know, he

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Speaker 2: needs help. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, I hope we are able

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Speaker 1: to see some you know, some change in this space

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Speaker 1: as a result of this, jobs and skills, and sooner

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Speaker 1: rather than later. Daniel Rochford always good to catch up

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Speaker 1: with you, mate, Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you