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Speaker 1: It is being reported that more than two million Aussie

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Speaker 1: households will be in the red if, as expected, the

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Speaker 1: RBA raises interest rates on Melbourne Cup Day tomorrow. Now,

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Speaker 1: Top four, Big Bank A and Z and Ing have

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Speaker 1: already hiked their rates ahead of the Reserve Bank of

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Speaker 1: Australia's meeting on Tuesday to discuss interest rates. Most economists

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Speaker 1: expect that the RBA is going to lift the cash

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Speaker 1: rate from four point one percent, where it has sat

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Speaker 1: well since June, to four point three five percent, And

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Speaker 1: according to the Daily Telegraph, if the RBA does see

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Speaker 1: fit to push the cash rate higher, more than two

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Speaker 1: million households with mortgages in Australia are going to be

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Speaker 1: in the negative cash flow position, according to exclusive data

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Speaker 1: from Digital Finance Analytics. So what could this rate rise

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Speaker 1: mean for the Northern Territory. Well, joining us on the

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Speaker 1: line right now as Greg Island, the CEO of the

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Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce. Good morning to you, Greg, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: It's been a while. How are you?

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Speaker 1: Oh, good mate, it has been a while because we

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Speaker 1: haven't had all we sort of we've been fairly stagnant

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Speaker 1: with these interest rates for a little while, although they've

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Speaker 1: remained incredibly high. But Greg, it's looking like we're going

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Speaker 1: to get the gift that none of us want tomorrow

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Speaker 1: on Melbourne Cup Day. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I think you're absolutely right, Katie, are saying the majority

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Speaker 2: of experts, and by experts we mean people that are

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Speaker 2: a lot smarter than me and me, and that's not

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Speaker 2: that hard predicting a twenty five basis point rise tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: So with Christmas coming, that's certainly not good news for consumers,

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Speaker 2: certainly not good news for mortgage holders, as you rightly

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Speaker 2: point out, and not good news for business and particularly

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Speaker 2: retail business coming into the Christmas season.

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Speaker 1: Greg, talk us through what impact those rate rises have

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory on consumer spending.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think they do exactly what they're intended to do, Katie,

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Speaker 2: and that is curb spending so that inflation does and

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Speaker 2: rise in. Curbing spending is literally distracting that money from

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Speaker 2: people's disposable income. It is painful, but it's it's kind

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Speaker 2: of a pain that we have to endure because if

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Speaker 2: we don't, the longer term issue is that we will

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Speaker 2: have spiraling inflation, which is going to ultimately cost us

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Speaker 2: probably more than that. So we understand why it's taking place,

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Speaker 2: but it's certainly not much fun while while it's incurring.

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Speaker 2: But four point three five percent is certainly saying to

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Speaker 2: get up there. We certainly don't want to see too

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Speaker 2: much more than that. But there's always winners out of

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Speaker 2: these things, Katie. And unfortunately this time it's the banks again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's how it keeps feeling as well. And I

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Speaker 1: know that you know, for a lot of our Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory businesses, it will have an impact. How is business

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Speaker 1: tracking in the territory right now?

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Speaker 2: Well, business is still quietly confident in the economic future

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Speaker 2: of the Northern Territory. It is frustrated by some of

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Speaker 2: the delays that we're experiencing in projects and this spending

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Speaker 2: actually hitting the green so that is a challenge. We

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Speaker 2: know full well that construction, particularly in the defense sector,

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Speaker 2: is what's holding the economy together and we need to

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Speaker 2: diversify that into the future. So business is quietly confident.

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Speaker 2: But the reality is that if it incurs more cost

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Speaker 2: of doing business, it will ultimately pass that on the

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Speaker 2: consumers because it has to now just taught.

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Speaker 1: Me through in terms of the rate rise, and if

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Speaker 1: it does happen, do you think we're going to see people,

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Speaker 1: you know, like really sort of pull back on their

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Speaker 1: spending before Christmas.

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Speaker 2: I think personally, you know, if the money is not

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Speaker 2: in your account because it's gone into your mortgage, you

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Speaker 2: you can't go to the shops and spend it the

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Speaker 2: way you normally would. And we certainly don't encourage people

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Speaker 2: racking up significant debts on credit cards or those types

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Speaker 2: of activities. So it is going to hurt from a

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Speaker 2: consumer spending perspective, particularly in a retail environment, and I

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Speaker 2: don't think there's any way to get away from that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes it tough, and particularly as we are

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Speaker 1: leading into Christmas. I mean, we all want to see

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Speaker 1: our local business is doing well. We all want to

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Speaker 1: make sure that they're you know, that they're they're remaining

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Speaker 1: confident and and they're able to continue to operate. But

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Speaker 1: it does make it much harder when people don't have

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Speaker 1: that money in their bank ready to go. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and no doubt people are still going to be

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Speaker 2: spending money at Christmas. Sim It's it's kind of always

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Speaker 2: going to happen. So we really do struggling encourage spending

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Speaker 2: that in at the local store with a door rather

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Speaker 2: than ordering stuff online and making sure that that money

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Speaker 2: stays circulating within the territory.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Greg, we're just talking to the Chief Minister and

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Speaker 1: obviously spoke about the Prime Minister's trip here to the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory, but also just spoken about, you know, whether

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Speaker 1: they discuss the Middle Arm development. It is certainly high

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Speaker 1: on the agenda this week. Those submissions are being put

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Speaker 1: forward for the inquiry into the project, and the inquiries

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Speaker 1: are going to be happening early next year. But from

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Speaker 1: a business perspective and from the Chamber of Commerce perspective,

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Speaker 1: how important is it that this Middle Arm project does

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Speaker 1: get off the ground.

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Speaker 2: It's vitally important for the territory, Katie. You know, we

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Speaker 2: know that it's controversial, and I think this inquiry represents

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Speaker 2: an opportunity for the proponents of the project to really

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Speaker 2: validate its economic value but also it's benefits to the

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Speaker 2: environment and that type of thing. So hopefully there's some

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Speaker 2: positives to come out. But it is a contributing factor

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Speaker 2: to more and more delays, and that's what I was

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Speaker 2: talking about earlier about how that then erodes confidence for

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Speaker 2: the local businesses.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that seems to be something that is a bit

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Speaker 1: of a concern in the territory. I mean we've seen

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Speaker 1: it in different ways over the years, in different sort

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Speaker 1: of you know, in different capacities, but those delays in

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Speaker 1: terms of business confidence or in terms of confidence, they

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Speaker 1: do have a big impact.

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Speaker 2: Well, they certainly do. And business needs to invest quite

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Speaker 2: heavily in itself to be ready, whether that's in infrastructure

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Speaker 2: or assets, or probably more likely invested in people. People

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Speaker 2: are the key, and that includes a significant amount of

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Speaker 2: training and recruitment that's required. That investment is very difficult

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Speaker 2: when you can't guarantee you're going to get an order

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Speaker 2: for some work, all these projects you're going to occur.

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Speaker 2: So everyone's spent sitting at the moment. Everyone's waiting but

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Speaker 2: quietly confident that those projects will happen.

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Speaker 1: Now, before I let you go this morning, we spoke

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Speaker 1: on Friday to the Sea of Hospitality Alex Bruce, just

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Speaker 1: talking a little bit more about crowd controllers being able

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Speaker 1: to carry OC spray. They are calling for that to

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Speaker 1: be pushed forward and to happen sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 1: Greg from your perspective, does this need to happen?

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Speaker 2: Look, it's certainly a difficult one. The business community needs

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Speaker 2: to make sure it's providing a safe environment for its workforce,

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Speaker 2: and that is paramount. We've seen some very very bad

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Speaker 2: things happen in that space in recent months, so we

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Speaker 2: are still supportive, but we want to make sure that

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Speaker 2: the training is appropriate its uses. You're very measured. So yes,

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Speaker 2: we do. We need businesses feeling safe places to be

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Speaker 2: so that those people that will spend their Christmas money

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Speaker 2: do so in a local store.

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Speaker 1: And do you reckon what we have happening in the

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Speaker 1: city at the moment and even in Karama and the

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Speaker 1: northern suburbs. We obviously everybody had spoken last week about

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Speaker 1: the full Corners report and about you know, about the

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Speaker 1: security that we've got operating. From your perspective, has that

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Speaker 1: security and the way in which they've been operating been

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Speaker 1: a positive. I don't know what's happened there. We seem

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Speaker 1: to have lost that phone line. Let's try again to

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Speaker 1: see if I'm able to get Greg back on. Sorry, Greg,

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Speaker 1: can you hear me?

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Speaker 2: I can't hear you. I'm not too sure connection from

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Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere.

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Speaker 1: Sorry, mate, For some reason, I think it cut out

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Speaker 1: from our side, just you know. Following on from that

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Speaker 1: four Corners Report last week. What's the feedback from Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory businesses in terms of that security that we've got operating.

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Speaker 1: Has it been a positive step?

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Speaker 2: I think the short answer is yes, for the most

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Speaker 2: part that has been the case. Business is also wearing

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Speaker 2: the additional cost of that and that gets passed on

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Speaker 2: the consumers as well. So it's part of that double

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Speaker 2: edged sword that we're talking about earlier with the cost

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Speaker 2: of doing business. But if your customers don't feel safe

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Speaker 2: in your environment, then they're not going to be there

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Speaker 2: and that's super critical that we get that right. So

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Speaker 2: whilst it's less than ideal and sad that we have

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Speaker 2: to go down that path, I think it's necessary and

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Speaker 2: we certainly support the measures as long as they are

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Speaker 2: implemented correctly.

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Speaker 1: Well, Greg, thank you so very much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning. Mate, from the middle of nowhere wherever you are,

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Speaker 1: thank you for joining us on the show.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome. It's a bit of a boating week for me, Katie.

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Speaker 2: I'm on leave, but you can call me any time.

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Speaker 1: Oh good on you, mate. I appreciate you having a

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Speaker 1: chat to us even though you are on leave, very much.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon.

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Speaker 2: Cheers, thank you,