1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,239 Speaker 1: One of the other areas that we know we've spoken 2 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,880 Speaker 1: a lot about in recent months is tourism, particularly in 3 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: Central Australia, and we know that Tourism Central Australia's well 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: leading body is calling for the Northern Territory and federal 5 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: governments to really treat the tourism recovery with the same 6 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: urgency that they are alcohol crime and social issues. Tourism 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: Central Australia's CEO Daniel Rochford joins me on the line 8 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: right now. 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 2: Good morning Daniel, Morning Katie, and morning to you listeners. 10 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. Daniel. Firstly, how 11 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: are things going at the moment in Central Australia when 12 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: it comes to tourism after what's been really a horrendous 13 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: few weeks and longer. 14 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's very delicate at the moment Katie. To 15 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 2: be fair, you know, we lost last week the Junior 16 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 2: Motocross Championship. Yesterday we lost another event, major of another 17 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 2: major event in May, so we're just getting you know, 18 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 2: you know, these bad news come through, which is again 19 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 2: just another kick in the guts for the tourism industry. 20 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 2: My members are basically. 21 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: What's the one that you lost? In May. 22 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a Caravan camper Van Association national meet 23 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:21,759 Speaker 2: up in May, so that was three hundred camper vans 24 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 2: coming to Alice Springs and we that would have seen 25 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 2: millions injected in our local economy which won't be there now. 26 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: Oh mate, I'm really sorry to hear that that. I mean, 27 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: that sucks. There's no other way of putting it. And 28 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: that has a huge like, it has a huge impact. 29 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 2: Oh look, yeah, absolutely, And look, you know we're prepared 30 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 2: for more, to be fair, Katie, given the bad publicity 31 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 2: that has besieged our town and you know, it is 32 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 2: what it is, and you know people are to have 33 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 2: some concerns about coming to Alic Springs because of that 34 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 2: publicity and the downstream consequence of that will be the 35 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 2: tourism and that certainly one of the reasons why we've 36 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 2: been calling for the fact that you know, there is 37 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,359 Speaker 2: support that is needed for the sector and the region. 38 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 2: You know, we have come off the last two years, 39 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 2: as we've talked about many times about the challenges Central 40 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 2: Australia's face during the COVID pandemic and then we've gone 41 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 2: heads first into this crime crisis and you know, we 42 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 2: as an industry. We're just getting our body blow after 43 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 2: body blow, and you know we just need, you know, 44 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 2: certainly calling upon the government to get behind the region 45 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 2: and get behind the sector. 46 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: What do you reckon they need to do here, Daniel, Oh, look, I. 47 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 2: Think it's few things, and certainly we're sitting down with 48 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 2: our minister this afternoon just to talk through a few 49 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 2: of these. But we need to get back confidence, Katie, 50 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,839 Speaker 2: and a lot of that confidence can be generated from 51 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 2: some of the major projects that the government have already announced. 52 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 2: Rather than just talking about them, we actually need to 53 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 2: get shovels in the ground. Nothing is stronger than building 54 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,959 Speaker 2: business confidence and major activity. You know, we've been talking 55 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 2: about the National Aboriginal Art Gallery that are at Cunder 56 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 2: Mountain Bikeway, the Marining Loop prode. All of these are money. 57 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 2: All of these projects have got committed money. So we 58 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 2: actually need to just get shovels in the ground, and 59 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 2: that certainly would be a huge boost for our industry. 60 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 2: There's no doubt that we need some support to recover 61 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 2: our brand and to get the message out that you know, 62 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:34,079 Speaker 2: we are you know, we are to war zone. But 63 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 2: you know we you know, we need to start rebuilding 64 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 2: and reconstructing marketing brand. We need to do much more 65 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 2: work from a workforce perspective, and there also needs to 66 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 2: be a lot of work done on building our events sector. 67 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 2: And you know, we have a major meeting of our 68 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 2: events events organizers today, but you know their message to 69 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 2: me has been, you know, they need help as well. 70 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 2: You know, there's been just to a drain of volunteers 71 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 2: in our town and as people have left. Alice Springs 72 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 2: and I had a meeting with one of our major 73 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 2: iconic events yesterday and that committee was saying to me, 74 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 2: they just don't know how to put on this year's event. 75 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 2: So you know that's you know, that's the situation that 76 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 2: we find and you know, we really urged the government 77 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 2: to back the region. And you know we we have 78 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 2: Dora or door B and A is we just do 79 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 2: the same thing that we've been doing in hope for 80 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 2: a different results or door bs, we take the ball 81 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 2: by the horn and that's what we need. Our government 82 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 2: at both the federal and territory level. Let's take the 83 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 2: bill by the horn and let the reconstruction process our 84 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:44,679 Speaker 2: gender pursue. 85 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: Well, they have to, you know, like it has to 86 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,840 Speaker 1: change things that have to change that Central Australia has 87 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 1: been a tourism hub for so many years. I mean, 88 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: you were screaming out at the end of last year 89 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 1: that we're in national crisis when it came to the 90 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: situation with crime and Daniel, it felt as though it 91 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: wasn't until we got embarrassed on a national scale scale 92 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: that you know that the both tiers of government decided, oh, 93 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: hang on a sec we are going to need to 94 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: take some really serious steps here. But now you know, 95 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: not only do things have to change in terms of 96 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: what's currently happening in Central Australia with crime, but we 97 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: do like it needs to be rebuilt. 98 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, it's we were broken and you know 99 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 2: the support that's been recently announced is really warmly welcome, 100 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 2: and you know there's a lot of desire to overcome 101 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 2: at the issues that we're facing. And you know, I 102 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 2: sit around the Social Order Response Council table and I'm 103 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 2: really impressed by Darrell Anderson. I think we've got the 104 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 2: best person that we can possibly have in that regional 105 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 2: controller's role and we need to back her and get 106 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 2: behind her. And now she's got some money behind her 107 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 2: from the Government's to it and you know, we need 108 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 2: to do all we can to try and overcome many 109 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 2: at the causal issues. But parallel to that, and you 110 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 2: know often in this debate it's all been talking about 111 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 2: alcohol and many of the social factors, but a critical 112 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 2: part of that is the economic picture, and you know, 113 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 2: we need to be talking about and really supercharging indigenous 114 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 2: economic empowerment in our region. You know, we should be 115 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 2: talking about how do we you know, one of the 116 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 2: things that was announded last week was a major overhaul 117 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 2: of the CDP programs. Ye now they're fake jobs. Really, 118 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 2: what we should be talking about is getting and encouraging 119 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 2: greater Indigenous entrepreneurship, getting Indigenous owned businesses. And that's where 120 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 2: the tourism industry plays such a critical role because we 121 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 2: have a huge potential to be a powerhouse in indigenous. 122 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: Jurasy Ye, Daniel, are you meeting We know that the 123 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,679 Speaker 1: whole Labor Caucus is meant to be down there today 124 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: for their caucus meeting. Are you going to be meeting 125 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: with any of the ministers. Are you meeting with anybody 126 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: to make sure that these concerns are heard. Yeah? 127 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 2: Absolutely, we'll certainly be putting our front foot forward. Look 128 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 2: you know, we always have a pretty you know, we 129 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 2: work very constructively with the normal territory government and you 130 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 2: know they you know, will feel like we've danced this 131 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 2: dance before, Katie. But you know there's certainly, you know, 132 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 2: hopefully we need to get on a road to recovery 133 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 2: here and that's going to be a simple message is 134 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 2: you know, we can't be just talking around, you know, 135 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 2: and the government just released the Indigenous Tourism Program, which 136 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 2: is a funding program for ten to thirty thousand dollars. 137 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 2: That's just not going to cut it. You know, that's 138 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 2: the death you know, we're just going to That's an 139 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 2: example of just doing the same as proved before and 140 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 2: expecting a different result. We need to supercharge the Central 141 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 2: Australian tourism economy and that's going to need a huge 142 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 2: amount of resources, most of which is already committed. But 143 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 2: we're going to need the desire and inclination for the 144 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 2: government to roll up their sleeves and get some of 145 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 2: these projects that we've been much talked about to fruition. 146 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: Well, Daniel Rochford, the CEO of Central Australian Tourism, Mate, 147 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: please keep in contact with us, let us know how 148 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: things are tracking along. We always appreciate your time. 149 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 2: Thank I appreciate it. Thanks, thank you very much. 150 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: No worries at all. We'll talk soon.