1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,680
Speaker 1: And joining us on the line right now is Tourism

2
00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:08,200
Speaker 1: Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning to you, Daniel, Good.

3
00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:09,880
Speaker 2: Morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

4
00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,240
Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, how are you guys going in Central Australia

5
00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,720
Speaker 1: at the moment when we talk about the current situation

6
00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:17,880
Speaker 1: for the tourism industry.

7
00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,319
Speaker 2: Well, you and I have talked over the last twelve

8
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,159
Speaker 2: months about how bad the industry has been facing the

9
00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,360
Speaker 2: challenges that we have throughout the pandemic. Twenty twenty was horrendous,

10
00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,120
Speaker 2: but twenty twenty one is shaping up to be disastrous

11
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,880
Speaker 2: and we have industry on their knees here in Central

12
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,200
Speaker 2: Australia and unfortunately it's getting going from bad to worse.

13
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,839
Speaker 1: Daniel, what can we do here? Like what is going

14
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,080
Speaker 1: to happen for our tourism operators. We caught up with

15
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,800
Speaker 1: Glenn Henley yesterday and he seemed exasperated. I know that

16
00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:52,479
Speaker 1: you'd be feeling exactly the same.

17
00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,920
Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, And I'm getting call after call from the

18
00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:01,320
Speaker 2: tourism operators who are at on the needs Katie, and

19
00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:06,760
Speaker 2: we're seeing the situation getting worse. So, for instance, in

20
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,720
Speaker 2: the last two and a half weeks. Normally we would

21
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,200
Speaker 2: see fifteen flights a week come into the Ularu Airport.

22
00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 2: We've only just seen two two in two and a

23
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,600
Speaker 2: half weeks, So that just gives you an understanding of

24
00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 2: how our industry has ground to a halt. And as

25
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,200
Speaker 2: I've said to you on many occasions, we fully support

26
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,520
Speaker 2: our government keeping us safe and as an industry, we

27
00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,120
Speaker 2: one hundred percent commit to the work that our governments

28
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,840
Speaker 2: are doing. But there are downstream consequences of that and

29
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,560
Speaker 2: that's being faced by our industry and we don't want

30
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,520
Speaker 2: to come across as you know, that we're winging or whatever.

31
00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,680
Speaker 2: The situation is dire for our sector, and we have

32
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,600
Speaker 2: been talking to governments, both the NTG and the federal

33
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:57,000
Speaker 2: government to ensure that there's some form of support, and

34
00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,280
Speaker 2: you know, we believe that it's probably tied. There's some

35
00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,280
Speaker 2: form of hardship support and some form of job save

36
00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:07,800
Speaker 2: or job keeper or whatever you want to keep. We

37
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,400
Speaker 2: put a lot of effort out here to try and

38
00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 2: get as many employees moving to Central Australia at the

39
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,120
Speaker 2: start of the year, and unfortunately many of our operators

40
00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,680
Speaker 2: are struggling to keep them on with no tourists walking

41
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:23,160
Speaker 2: through the door, Daniel.

42
00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,120
Speaker 1: When you talk about the fact that you know, usually

43
00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,320
Speaker 1: there'd be fifteen flights, that's gone down to two in

44
00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,359
Speaker 1: two and a half weeks, I mean, how are operators

45
00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,919
Speaker 1: able to even continue to operate when you're talking about

46
00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:37,959
Speaker 1: such low numbers.

47
00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've seen businesses just especially in the last week,

48
00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:47,680
Speaker 2: just making the decision to give up and either hibernate

49
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,240
Speaker 2: or close. There are operators that are pivoting to just

50
00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,840
Speaker 2: take on paid work outside of their business just to

51
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,480
Speaker 2: keep food on their table. And that's how dire it

52
00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:06,160
Speaker 2: is getting, Katie, And we can't urge more strongly to

53
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,320
Speaker 2: government that we need support at this time, and we

54
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:15,520
Speaker 2: need it now. We can quickly mobilize to support the

55
00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:20,560
Speaker 2: wider community against the delta variant of the pandemic, but

56
00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:24,519
Speaker 2: we also need to work quickly to support operators who

57
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,000
Speaker 2: are the downstream consequences of keeping us safe.

58
00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,240
Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, we know that a couple of weeks ago

59
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,120
Speaker 1: the government flagged that there'd be another round of tourism vouchers,

60
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 1: but a lot of that detail is still sort of well,

61
00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,880
Speaker 1: it remains outstanding from your perspective, Is there any time

62
00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,280
Speaker 1: here to leave our tourism operators and our tourism workers lingering.

63
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,480
Speaker 2: Look, we're certainly very keen to get clarity on the

64
00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:57,160
Speaker 2: voucher program and were certainly very happy to see that

65
00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,119
Speaker 2: another round of vouchers is in the budget. We as

66
00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,160
Speaker 2: you know, you and I have talked about many times. Unfortunately,

67
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 2: this program has only seen a small amount of money

68
00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,400
Speaker 2: come to Central Australia, and I think after the three

69
00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,400
Speaker 2: rounds of the vouchers it's almost twenty seven million dollars

70
00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,880
Speaker 2: that have gone into the top end versus just three

71
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,680
Speaker 2: into Central Australia. So you know, there is a need

72
00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,880
Speaker 2: to revisit and look at how we can get more

73
00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,000
Speaker 2: equity in this program. And you know that I hope

74
00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,400
Speaker 2: the government's hearing that from us in Central Australia. But

75
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,920
Speaker 2: we certainly need governments to act quickly on this because

76
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:38,000
Speaker 2: we need help now.

77
00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,520
Speaker 1: Daniel, if you could get one message across to you know,

78
00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,919
Speaker 1: to both tiers of government right now, what would it be.

79
00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,720
Speaker 2: Look, the message we've been saying is get your heads together,

80
00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,440
Speaker 2: let's get some form of support package. We fully support

81
00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,279
Speaker 2: the work you're all doing to keep us safe, and

82
00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,919
Speaker 2: you know we are very much appreciated, but at the

83
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,279
Speaker 2: end of the day, the tourism and hospitality sectors is

84
00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,839
Speaker 2: the industry that has been smashed as a result of

85
00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,720
Speaker 2: that good work. So we need help, Katie, and we

86
00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:12,280
Speaker 2: need it now.

87
00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,960
Speaker 1: Oh, Daniel Rochford, I really appreciate your time this morning,

88
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,479
Speaker 1: and mate, I feel for you guys, you know, I

89
00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 1: feel for all of our operators, but particularly those who

90
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,760
Speaker 1: work in tourism. It is really tough going. And you know,

91
00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,919
Speaker 1: when you look at those numbers, those flights for me

92
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,720
Speaker 1: really make it kind of really clear just how tough

93
00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,280
Speaker 1: it is for our tourism operators in Central Australia, it's

94
00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,960
Speaker 1: you know, it is such tough going at the moment.

95
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, and I really appreciate that, Katie, and you've

96
00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,040
Speaker 2: been a great supporter of Central Australian tourism as well.

97
00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,520
Speaker 2: And look, we'll get through this. You know, it is

98
00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:53,160
Speaker 2: a rollercoaster ride. But you know, unfortunately twenty twenty was bad,

99
00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,400
Speaker 2: but unfortunately twenty twenty business is far worse. And I

100
00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,800
Speaker 2: guess we're doing our best to add on behalf of

101
00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:04,440
Speaker 2: our industry to get governments for that support that we need.

102
00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,279
Speaker 1: Daniel, thank you so much for your time this morning,

103
00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:08,920
Speaker 1: and we will talk to you again very soon.

104
00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:11,360
Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,