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Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to talk further about

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Speaker 1: the budget tonight and what we will hopefully expect for

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory is the Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Greg.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you today?

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Speaker 1: Not too bad? Well, I'm half excited about the budget, Greg,

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Speaker 1: but I don't after rest of Australia is some people

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Speaker 1: find it boring, but I think we're all hoping that

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Speaker 1: there's going to be a bit in there for the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's certainly going to be an interesting budget Katy,

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Speaker 2: with a new government coming in and having to deal

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Speaker 2: with some challenges and also having to put this interim

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Speaker 2: situation in place. And it's also interesting to hear a

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Speaker 2: bit of a focus on some social aspects rather than

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Speaker 2: just pure economics, which is a little different this time

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Speaker 2: for this type of event. So yeah, it's going to

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Speaker 2: be must see viewing tonight.

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Speaker 1: It will be. Now, Greg, does there need to be

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Speaker 1: investment in the Northern Territory when it comes to workforce

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Speaker 1: shortages or what are you hoping to say?

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Speaker 2: Look, it certainly does and a number of the announcements

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Speaker 2: that we've seen already Cati the support for middle arm

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Speaker 2: which is something that we absolutely support, as well as

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Speaker 2: the roads are going to be connecting remote communities together,

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Speaker 2: which is absolutely vital for the territory. Are going to

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Speaker 2: do exactly that. We exacerbate the workforce issue. So over

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Speaker 2: a period of time we're going to be needing quite

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Speaker 2: a substantial numbers of workers into the territory and we're

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Speaker 2: hearing something like thirty five thousand over the next decade.

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Speaker 1: Wow, where are we going to find those workers?

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Speaker 2: Well, that's the great conundrum I think, and Territory government

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Speaker 2: is certainly looking to assist business in supporting that program.

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Speaker 2: One of the couple of key areas for the Chamber,

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Speaker 2: Katie are the continuation of the subsidized apprenticeship. So we've

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Speaker 2: seen that during the previous government supporting additional funding for

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Speaker 2: employers to support apprentices has seeing that the numbers grow

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Speaker 2: up to about four thousand here in the territory. That

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Speaker 2: funding has terminated and we've seen those numbers were drawn

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Speaker 2: back again. So we'd like to see that being stated

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Speaker 2: and have some more apprentices in growing our own labor

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Speaker 2: portion of the future. Well, but migration is certainly key

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that the Federal government, and

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Speaker 1: I don't know whether it's something that they're going to

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Speaker 1: be looking at in this budget, but do you think

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Speaker 1: that there needs to be more incentives for people to

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Speaker 1: move to more regional parts of Australia.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a difficult one, Katie. Historically we've always had

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Speaker 2: a problem recruiting down south and a lot of that

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Speaker 2: used to do with the climate. There's not too much

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Speaker 2: that the federal government can do about that in terms

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Speaker 2: of being a tropical environment, so we do have to

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Speaker 2: attract the right people and sometimes our few and far between.

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Speaker 2: The reality is that people coming from our north are

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Speaker 2: much more accustomed to the weather that we have here

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Speaker 2: and it's probably a more a lot it will fit

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Speaker 2: for us to be engaging with them. So migration, as

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Speaker 2: I just mentioned, is certainly going to be the key.

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Speaker 1: Now do you think that there needs to be some

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Speaker 1: measures to wease the cost of living pressures that we're

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Speaker 1: experiencing as well.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's going to be the way of the future.

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Speaker 2: I don't think we're going to see too many prices

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Speaker 2: go backwards, but we certainly want that information rate to

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Speaker 2: remain as reasonably small as possible. So there's some key areas.

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Speaker 2: You know, fuel has been one of those things that's

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Speaker 2: been talked about quite extensively. It's an input cost of business, absolutely,

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Speaker 2: but it's pretty much a fixed cost. I mean, everyone

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Speaker 2: has to get in their car and drive to work

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Speaker 2: or do their deliveries or whatever the situation is, and

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Speaker 2: it's one of those must have areas. The Chamber is

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Speaker 2: vocal about it, but we're also a little bit wary

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Speaker 2: of people exposing their profit margins and so forth. So

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Speaker 2: we think that as we grow the economy, more increased

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Speaker 2: competition will be the solution to some of those challenges.

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Speaker 1: And that's you know, I guess that's the big thing,

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Speaker 1: is growing the economy, growing the population, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of people are pretty skeptical about that given some of

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Speaker 1: the other social issues that we've got.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's another opportunity for the federal government to

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Speaker 2: support the Northern territory and some funding for reducing crime

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Speaker 2: and providing some other mechanisms for things for people to

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Speaker 2: do to distract them, I guess from some of any

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Speaker 2: social behavior would also be certainly welcome.

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Speaker 1: Yes, there any areas in particular that you reckon that

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Speaker 1: there does need to be sort of some focus on

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Speaker 1: in this space.

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Speaker 2: It's a particular problem for the community both up and

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Speaker 2: down the track. I mean, we've seen what's happening in

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Speaker 2: Central Australia and the Berkley it's just very ordinary. Some

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Speaker 2: of those diversionary programs are going to be the key.

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Speaker 2: Simply locking people up has proven to be problematic. So

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Speaker 2: if any funding that's available to support those program I

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Speaker 2: think would be greatly appreciated by the community. But at

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Speaker 2: the end of the day, from a chamber of perspective,

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Speaker 2: we are focused on the economic growth and making sure

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Speaker 2: that we're a prosperous place to live into the future.

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Speaker 1: And on that note, you know, are you hoping as well,

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Speaker 1: because something that's been raised with us on quite a

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Speaker 1: number of occasions in recent weeks is not only the

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Speaker 1: visa application process, but also you know, people that are

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Speaker 1: already here that are wanting to stay, not being able

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Speaker 1: to actually stay and being deported. Are you hoping that

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Speaker 1: we're going to see some movement when it comes to

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Speaker 1: the visa processes.

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Speaker 2: I think it's absolutely essential. We've been talking with both

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Speaker 2: territory and federal governments about exactly that the complexity in

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Speaker 2: going through this visa process is just obscene for one

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Speaker 2: of a better word, the timeframes associated with it. We're

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Speaker 2: seeing people take up to three years to get foreign

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Speaker 2: worker visas. It's just crazy. And then it's costing the

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Speaker 2: applicant and the business up to ten or fifteen thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars to process. So there's opportunity there to reduce complexity,

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Speaker 2: reduce the time frame, and reduce the costs and then

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Speaker 2: be a win for all of us.

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Speaker 1: So, Greg, if you had a couple of take homes,

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Speaker 1: you know, for the federal budget tonight, what would they be?

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Speaker 1: What are the things that are essential for us in

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Speaker 1: the territory that you're hoping to see out of tonight's budget.

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Speaker 2: So for us, it starts with certainty and the middle

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Speaker 2: arm funding is provide certainty for local businesses to look

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Speaker 2: at investing in themselves, so that private investment is absolutely

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Speaker 2: critical for the economy, as is the investment in by

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Speaker 2: those project proponents. So certainty is probably high on the list.

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Speaker 2: I think closing the gap will come from connectivity, so

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Speaker 2: those roads are super critical. The funding that's there at

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Speaker 2: the moment is not going to fix all of the issues,

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Speaker 2: but it's certainly a good start. So those are probably

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Speaker 2: the two key things that we like to see from

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Speaker 2: what we've heard so far. Migration and Panish ships also

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Speaker 2: high on the list.

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Speaker 1: Well, Greg Ireland, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce,

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Speaker 1: always good to catch up with you. Let's wait and

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Speaker 1: see exactly what gets handed down in that budget tonight.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Katie, thank you to the good stuff. Good on you, Greg,

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Speaker 1: Thank you