1
00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:03,440
Speaker 1: We know that lockdowns around the nation are having a

2
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,000
Speaker 1: massive impact in so many ways mentally, but also when

3
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,400
Speaker 1: we talk about business and the impact on so many

4
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 1: different businesses and tourism. Tourism Central Australia have recently, as

5
00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,040
Speaker 1: I understand it, completed a survey into the impact that

6
00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,000
Speaker 1: lockdowns are having on the sector in the Red Center.

7
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to tell us a

8
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,560
Speaker 1: bit more about the situation is the CEO of Tourism

9
00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 1: Central Australia, Daniel Rochford.

10
00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:27,800
Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

11
00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, and good morning to you listeners.

12
00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:31,120
Speaker 2: Daniel.

13
00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: We know that the latest situation in New South Wales, Victoria,

14
00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,159
Speaker 1: South Australia, right around the place really is having a

15
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:42,040
Speaker 1: massive impact not only in those states but around the nation.

16
00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,519
Speaker 1: How are those ramifications being felt for us here in

17
00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:46,240
Speaker 1: the territory.

18
00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:49,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's two things that are happening Katie, here in

19
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 3: Central Australia. One is we've actually got a lot of

20
00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,800
Speaker 3: grow nomads here in the town, so our caravan parks

21
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,600
Speaker 3: are absolutely chockers at the moment, which is great to see.

22
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,840
Speaker 3: And we're seeing a lot of people coming into our

23
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 3: information center in Allison Tennant, which is great to see.

24
00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 3: But what we have seen essentially is the rug taken

25
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,360
Speaker 3: out from under us in terms of our traditional fly

26
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,600
Speaker 3: drive market, and that has just disappeared overnight with the

27
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:22,840
Speaker 3: complete lockdowns right around the country, and we're hearing from

28
00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:27,280
Speaker 3: our members some catastrophic statistics. I've got an email in

29
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:29,160
Speaker 3: front of me, sent to me just ten minutes ago

30
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,480
Speaker 3: from a business owner that says he has had sixty

31
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:40,040
Speaker 3: school groups in the last three weeks cancel in terms

32
00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:44,000
Speaker 3: of tour services with his business, which it equates to

33
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,760
Speaker 3: a significant figure. And as you mentioned earlier, we have

34
00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,760
Speaker 3: just recently surveyed our members and been speaking to all

35
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,800
Speaker 3: our members in terms of what that gamut of that

36
00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:00,720
Speaker 3: cost implication is. And we have over ten minutes dollars

37
00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:06,080
Speaker 3: worth of business that's been wiped off our businesses books

38
00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:08,800
Speaker 3: as a result of the lockdowns right around the country,

39
00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,679
Speaker 3: which is a significant impact. And I just in the

40
00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,480
Speaker 3: last two weeks I've had to refer to of our

41
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:19,720
Speaker 3: operators to mental health support. It's getting to that stage.

42
00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:21,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I'm not surprised.

43
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,440
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised at all that people are needing some support,

44
00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,679
Speaker 1: some mental health support given what's going on. I mean

45
00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,000
Speaker 1: ten million dollars over what period of time are.

46
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,639
Speaker 3: We talking This is really just in the last since

47
00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,400
Speaker 3: the initial Sydney and Melbourne lockdowns to today, over the

48
00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:47,000
Speaker 3: next next two months, so as you can see, well,

49
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,400
Speaker 3: what's happening in New South Wales. We're not sort of

50
00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,359
Speaker 3: expecting that to come back online anytime soon. No, it's

51
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,280
Speaker 3: quietly confident that the Victorians have things under check and

52
00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,760
Speaker 3: hopefully that we'll start to welcome Victorians back shortly as

53
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 3: well South Australians. But at the moment it's looking pretty diabolical.

54
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, now you said sixty school groups.

55
00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,720
Speaker 1: I would with that tour operator who'd said that that's

56
00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,639
Speaker 1: the volume of cancelations that they've had alone.

57
00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:14,520
Speaker 2: Was that over the last week.

58
00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:16,800
Speaker 1: And when we talk school groups, are we're talking like

59
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,800
Speaker 1: obviously you know classes, I'm assuming so like twenty kids

60
00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:21,440
Speaker 1: if not more.

61
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, So, you know, it's a significant impact. And

62
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,840
Speaker 3: this particular business is a small operator. And I had

63
00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:36,960
Speaker 3: another tour, another tour operator just last week. He had

64
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,480
Speaker 3: two tours coming in. He spent ten thousand dollars on

65
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,200
Speaker 3: buying food for that group, and because of the Melbourne lockdown,

66
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,600
Speaker 3: the group canceled on short notice, So his money is

67
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,440
Speaker 3: sitting in a freezer at the moment, and that's the

68
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 3: situation of many of our small businesses here in Central

69
00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 3: Australia are facing. They've just had the rug pulled out

70
00:03:58,880 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 3: from under them.

71
00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:00,840
Speaker 2: Unbelievable.

72
00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,840
Speaker 1: Now, when we talk about you mentioned this before, the

73
00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,440
Speaker 1: mental impact that this has as well. But what you

74
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,960
Speaker 1: know when you talk about that mental impact, you've said

75
00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:11,960
Speaker 1: that two of those people, you've referred a couple of

76
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,280
Speaker 1: people to mental health support. But how big an impact

77
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,919
Speaker 1: does this have on some of our tourism operators mentally?

78
00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,880
Speaker 3: Oh, there's no doubt. And I'm seeing this time far

79
00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,000
Speaker 3: worse than what it was last year. Last year there

80
00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,280
Speaker 3: was a safety blanket, a safety net there with job

81
00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,440
Speaker 3: keeper that's not there this year. And in our small

82
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,440
Speaker 3: businesses have started that they're trying to keep on. They've

83
00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:46,360
Speaker 3: got fixed costs that they're still there and the money

84
00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,599
Speaker 3: isn't coming in as a result of the lockdowns. I

85
00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,120
Speaker 3: had an operator again just last week's say that twenty

86
00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,440
Speaker 3: twenty one is worse for him than what twenty twenty was,

87
00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 3: which is pretty a sad indictment of the currency situation

88
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,960
Speaker 3: and certainly what we're calling for KAD is that we

89
00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,160
Speaker 3: need some targeted assistance here. We're not talking about a

90
00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,560
Speaker 3: blanket scheme like job Keeper. It's a targeted scheme. I

91
00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,560
Speaker 3: could write on a piece of paper the thirty odd

92
00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,839
Speaker 3: side businesses here in Central Australia that need targeted assistance.

93
00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,320
Speaker 1: What would look like I've talked what would that target

94
00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,640
Speaker 1: What would that targeted assistance look like?

95
00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 2: How do you reckon that this needs to happen with

96
00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:26,239
Speaker 2: the government.

97
00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:32,039
Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly needs some form of financial contribution, whether

98
00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,440
Speaker 3: that's it's whether that's in a business hardship grand like

99
00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:40,000
Speaker 3: v NTG as previously provided, or some form of assistance

100
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,000
Speaker 3: to keep staff on in a job keeper environment. So

101
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,919
Speaker 3: you know, it's really just getting some of these businesses

102
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 3: to the other side of this problem. I guess you

103
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,440
Speaker 3: and I have talked about many times. Our governments have

104
00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,479
Speaker 3: done a great job keeping us source safe and you know,

105
00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,719
Speaker 3: at all levels and all colors. The downstream consequence of

106
00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,000
Speaker 3: that is been the shattering of our tourism and hospitality

107
00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:09,720
Speaker 3: industries and we've faced it significantly so here in Central

108
00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,160
Speaker 3: Australia because of our high reliance on international visitation.

109
00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if we do look at a financial

110
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,080
Speaker 1: contribution and a targeted sort of assistance scheme for some

111
00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,400
Speaker 1: of our tourism operators. I mean, I know that what

112
00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,040
Speaker 1: they'd done previously when we were in our own lockdown

113
00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:29,040
Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory, we were talking I think

114
00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,960
Speaker 1: it was like one thousand dollars over a period of time.

115
00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,440
Speaker 1: But to me, that doesn't sound like it's sort of

116
00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:38,160
Speaker 1: going to go far enough in terms of helping business.

117
00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,960
Speaker 3: Well, we're talking on average of the people have responded

118
00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:47,320
Speaker 3: to our survey, we're hearing stories of over between one

119
00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:51,080
Speaker 3: hundred to two hundred thousand dollars of lost business. One

120
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:56,320
Speaker 3: thousand dollars, though appreciated, is certainly nothing in comparison to

121
00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,839
Speaker 3: the losses being made by these businesses to no fault

122
00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:04,120
Speaker 3: of their own. You know, that's the challenge that we're facing, you, Katie,

123
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,080
Speaker 3: and that's why our industry needs help, and we need

124
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:07,599
Speaker 3: help now.

125
00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,480
Speaker 1: It sounds as this is a pretty acute situation Daniel,

126
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,400
Speaker 1: that really, you know, based on these most recent survey

127
00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:17,640
Speaker 1: results that you've got, based on the feedback that you

128
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,240
Speaker 1: are receiving from members at the moment, and based on

129
00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,880
Speaker 1: these most recent lockdowns interstate the situation is pretty dire

130
00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,000
Speaker 1: for some of our tourism operators. And you're really calling

131
00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,440
Speaker 1: upon the territory government right now to sort of to

132
00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:32,640
Speaker 1: step up and help out.

133
00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 3: And I would also call on the federal government too, Katie.

134
00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,680
Speaker 3: I think both government tiers of government have responsibilities to

135
00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,640
Speaker 3: play here. But yes, you know, as I said, this

136
00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,200
Speaker 3: doesn't need a blank approach at the moment here in Alice.

137
00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,840
Speaker 3: As I said earlier, the caravan parks are doing really well,

138
00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,400
Speaker 3: some of our corporate hotels doing relatively well. But where again,

139
00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:00,120
Speaker 3: businesses are falling through the cracks that the businesses are

140
00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,320
Speaker 3: reliant on international visitation and tour operators, they're the ones

141
00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:05,680
Speaker 3: that have fallen through the cracks.

142
00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,680
Speaker 1: Yet again, Daniel, given the situation that your industry is in,

143
00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,720
Speaker 1: and you know what you've spoken about to me this morning,

144
00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,200
Speaker 1: how did you feel over the weekend then seeing up

145
00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,520
Speaker 1: here in the top end and around the rest of

146
00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,080
Speaker 1: the country people protesting.

147
00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,440
Speaker 3: Oh, look, it's just so sad to see that. To

148
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,280
Speaker 3: be fair, Katie, look, I don't begrudge the right to protest,

149
00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:33,360
Speaker 3: but when it comes to the safety of our nation,

150
00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,640
Speaker 3: you know, it was idiotic in the extreme. In my opinion.

151
00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,280
Speaker 3: And you know a lot of work has been done

152
00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:46,360
Speaker 3: to try and lift these hotspots and lockdowns, and all

153
00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:52,040
Speaker 3: that just did was put that potentially under jeopardy, and

154
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,480
Speaker 3: that to me is just very sad to see.

155
00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,959
Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, before I let you go with that survey,

156
00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,000
Speaker 1: that you complete it and you know with some of

157
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,240
Speaker 1: the feedback that you've received, is there anything else that

158
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,120
Speaker 1: you reckon We need to know about that we as

159
00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,719
Speaker 1: Territorians need to be aware of really when we think

160
00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,720
Speaker 1: about our tourism operator and the impact that these lockdowns

161
00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:14,240
Speaker 1: are having.

162
00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:14,640
Speaker 2: At the moment.

163
00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I think with the industry is still very fragile, Katie,

164
00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,880
Speaker 3: and I would put this message out to all your

165
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,440
Speaker 3: listeners this morning that the best thing that we can

166
00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,319
Speaker 3: all do is get behind our tourism and hospitality industries

167
00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,360
Speaker 3: right across the territory from the top end to Central Australia.

168
00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,640
Speaker 3: Come down to Central Australia the coming few weeks and

169
00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:42,040
Speaker 3: months to support our industry and likewise the great operators

170
00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,400
Speaker 3: in the top end. We're all doing it relatively tough

171
00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,040
Speaker 3: for some more than others, and now that time we

172
00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:49,680
Speaker 3: need your help.

173
00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,120
Speaker 1: Daniel Rochford, I always appreciate your time. Thanks so much

174
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:53,959
Speaker 1: for having a chat.

175
00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:54,400
Speaker 2: With us today.

176
00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:56,439
Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, Well, thank you.

177
00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,480
Speaker 1: That's Tourism Central Australia CEO there, Daniel Rochford