1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:02,240
Speaker 1: A little bit earlier on the show, we caught up

2
00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: with Convat Scaralus, the Lord Mayor of Darwin, and he

3
00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:09,200
Speaker 1: made these comments about bottle shop restrictions.

4
00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,800
Speaker 2: Take a listen, we have to address the issue of

5
00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,640
Speaker 2: secretary supply and let's have a look seriously about the

6
00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,560
Speaker 2: sale of alcohol. Do we have to have take away

7
00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,120
Speaker 2: alcohol salt ten o'clock in the morning, Why can we

8
00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,000
Speaker 2: actually bring it back? Let's save lunch time, give another

9
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,000
Speaker 2: two hours break to our people, or.

10
00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:28,920
Speaker 1: So you reckon? We need to change the hours.

11
00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,800
Speaker 2: When I get Darwin nineteen ninety three, you couldn't buy

12
00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,000
Speaker 2: alcohol before twelve o'clock and the take a will closed

13
00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,760
Speaker 2: eight o'clock at night. It was later we start creeping

14
00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,520
Speaker 2: and when ten pm closing time and then ten am

15
00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:42,200
Speaker 2: opening time.

16
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:43,240
Speaker 3: So what hourse do you reckon?

17
00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:44,479
Speaker 1: It should be allowed to be so.

18
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,880
Speaker 2: Twelve mid days ten pm, that would be quite reaserable.

19
00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,640
Speaker 1: So there you go. That was the Lord Mayor of Darwin,

20
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,000
Speaker 1: Convat Scarlets on the show a bit earlier this morning.

21
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,720
Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is Hospitality

22
00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,800
Speaker 1: Into CEO Alex Bruce. Good morning to you, Alex.

23
00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:02,960
Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Alex.

24
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,240
Speaker 1: I wasn't planning on having you on the show this morning.

25
00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,280
Speaker 3: But when we haven't planning on beating on.

26
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,080
Speaker 1: You never know how your day is going to roll out. Mate,

27
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,920
Speaker 1: What did you make of the Lord Mayor's comments a

28
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 1: bit earlier?

29
00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,880
Speaker 3: Oh? Look, our phones lit up with members concerned that

30
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000
Speaker 3: once again without dealing with the underlying issues. Let's call

31
00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:29,920
Speaker 3: a spade a spade here. You can see the problems

32
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,039
Speaker 3: that are plaguing our streets in our city at the moment.

33
00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,560
Speaker 3: We need the focus there. We appreciate that we have

34
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,560
Speaker 3: a role to play. We met with the police last night,

35
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,560
Speaker 3: particularly about late night activity and some more stuff that

36
00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,040
Speaker 3: we can do to support what they're doing. Positively, they

37
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,720
Speaker 3: said that their resources are coming back online. Yeah, they

38
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,440
Speaker 3: themselves acknowledge that. You know, with our obsession on focusing

39
00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,800
Speaker 3: on COVID my words, not theirs, everything else slipped. So

40
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,960
Speaker 3: you know, we're back dealing in this post COVID world

41
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 3: with the real issues. There are way too many itinerants

42
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,639
Speaker 3: allowed in and around town. No one's been controlling them,

43
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,919
Speaker 3: and we really need to ramp up the repatriations back

44
00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:18,639
Speaker 3: to the community. Everyone's in the city, licensees and you know, customers,

45
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,400
Speaker 3: people walking around their daily life kind of people that

46
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:22,880
Speaker 3: live in there have just had a gap full.

47
00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,360
Speaker 1: Alex is the hospitality and you know, the industry that

48
00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:32,040
Speaker 1: sells alcohol, particularly take away alcohol, doing enough to make

49
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,600
Speaker 1: sure that, you know, like doing enough in this space

50
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:37,560
Speaker 1: because I know that there'll be people out there listening

51
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,000
Speaker 1: who feel as though maybe you're.

52
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:43,040
Speaker 3: Not so then doesn't that question get slipped on its

53
00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,120
Speaker 3: head and say, does this mean the BDR is an

54
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,600
Speaker 3: abject failure? Does this mean the minimum flaw price is

55
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,720
Speaker 3: causing more harm than it was ever intended to fix

56
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,240
Speaker 3: because it has shifted a vulnerable cohort of drinkers from

57
00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:01,160
Speaker 3: cask wine to unregulated Bundy rum. We've been giving this

58
00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 3: advice to the government for a couple of years now.

59
00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,760
Speaker 3: We are aware that the Darwin, Casarina and Palmerston police

60
00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,480
Speaker 3: commands were stripped there since Christmas, you know, as low

61
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,679
Speaker 3: as ten percent strength. Pleasingly, it's all coming back online now.

62
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,280
Speaker 3: Pleasingly they're now talking about reopening that closed watchhouse that

63
00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,840
Speaker 3: has been closed pretty much for the last two years,

64
00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,840
Speaker 3: which you know, even Paul mckew from the Police Association

65
00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 3: shows that that's a one and a half hour trip

66
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,480
Speaker 3: on average for the limited resources that are available. So

67
00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,800
Speaker 3: we're willing to work respectfully with them. We are willing

68
00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 3: to do our part, but it's just a bit of

69
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,960
Speaker 3: a cheap shot. We feel like we're the chopped liver

70
00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:42,920
Speaker 3: that's been thrown out in front of the bus again.

71
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,280
Speaker 3: You know, they were doing that to us in the

72
00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,200
Speaker 3: tail end of COVID. There are some serious issues. That's

73
00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,440
Speaker 3: got more to do with the resourcing of the frontline.

74
00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,840
Speaker 3: Very respectful of the role that the frontline police are doing,

75
00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,560
Speaker 3: they've just been absolutely stretched, incredibly thin. That's where the

76
00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,680
Speaker 3: government needs to focus and pleasingly they're telling us they're

77
00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:04,160
Speaker 3: on to it.

78
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,040
Speaker 1: Now, what do you think I mean this discussion and

79
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 1: these comments by the mayor in terms of opening bottle

80
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,920
Speaker 1: shops later at midday. I mean, I guess you know,

81
00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,720
Speaker 1: you're in the you're in the hospitality industry, so you're

82
00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:20,680
Speaker 1: probably not the right person to ask whether it's going

83
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:22,599
Speaker 1: to work. But I know that you guys are out there.

84
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,560
Speaker 1: You know you can see what's going on. Would it

85
00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:25,560
Speaker 1: make any difference?

86
00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,039
Speaker 3: Tenant Creek has three hours of trade a day for

87
00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,039
Speaker 3: six days of the week. Ask them what they think

88
00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:38,640
Speaker 3: about whether the town's been tied it up Alice Springs, Catherine,

89
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 3: the bottle shops both got pushed back many many hours.

90
00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,480
Speaker 3: Your text was right and even in and around Darwin

91
00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 3: talking to the services that engage with that vulnerable cohort,

92
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,360
Speaker 3: they're finding them with ice cold alcohol well before ten

93
00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:57,040
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning. So that is a legal secondary supply.

94
00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,680
Speaker 3: Whoever's doing it should absolutely be targeted. Throw the book

95
00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,159
Speaker 3: at them. We don't believe it is any of the industry,

96
00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,880
Speaker 3: but you know, we'll never stand in front of bad behavior.

97
00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,640
Speaker 3: But we just look at all of that and we

98
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:11,440
Speaker 3: look we know that in Catherine, you know, with the

99
00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:17,240
Speaker 3: later bottle shop openings ours, it hasn't fixed the underlying issue.

100
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,919
Speaker 3: We're not talking about the underlying issue when we just

101
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,960
Speaker 3: look at yet further supply side restrictions.

102
00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:24,760
Speaker 1: Now, what do you think or what do you make

103
00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,880
Speaker 1: of the calls by the opposition leader leofanoki Aro for

104
00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,680
Speaker 1: there to be a review into things like the BDR

105
00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:33,839
Speaker 1: and also the floor price to see if they're working.

106
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,160
Speaker 3: The floor price reviews you is underway right now and

107
00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,280
Speaker 3: we've provided a submission that we do believe it is

108
00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,760
Speaker 3: causing more harm than good and you know, we probably

109
00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,719
Speaker 3: understand that no one really knew what its impact would be,

110
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,799
Speaker 3: but it has also had, you know, the unintended consequence

111
00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,080
Speaker 3: that everybody thinks that applies to their products and that

112
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,800
Speaker 3: there's more money going through the tills when the margins

113
00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,760
Speaker 3: are exactly the same they ever were, and you know

114
00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,159
Speaker 3: there is no super profit. So no, we don't support

115
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,560
Speaker 3: the flaw price. We think it's got to go. We

116
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,279
Speaker 3: tell the government continually with the BDR, make it better

117
00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,799
Speaker 3: or get rid of it, but siddling around the edges

118
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,880
Speaker 3: with ideas and thought bubbles and let's change the rules

119
00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,840
Speaker 3: yet again. For an industry that more than most have

120
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,559
Speaker 3: copped rule changes ad nauseum for the last two years,

121
00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:25,360
Speaker 3: we've had a gupfull. We're sick of it.

122
00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,400
Speaker 1: Hey, Alex, Before I let you go, we know over

123
00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,400
Speaker 1: the weekend and you know, we sort of touched on

124
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:32,400
Speaker 1: this at the start of the interview with the increased

125
00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,920
Speaker 1: police presence that's going to be kicking in from tomorrow

126
00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,599
Speaker 1: around the CBD and Perrap. But we know that on

127
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,359
Speaker 1: the weekend there was a brawl. I believe it was

128
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,840
Speaker 1: on Mitchell Street. Somebody had a knife. There was also

129
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,640
Speaker 1: a woman who allegedly kicked a police officer in the head.

130
00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,400
Speaker 1: You must be disappointed when you hear things like this happening.

131
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,119
Speaker 3: Yes, and again we feel for the police, We feel

132
00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,400
Speaker 3: for our security guards, We feel for the operation of

133
00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:03,760
Speaker 3: those venues that are often the targets and the punching

134
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:08,159
Speaker 3: bags in all of this stuff. We appreciate that there

135
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 3: is a role to play. And we were meeting with

136
00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,160
Speaker 3: the police yesterday to see what more could be done

137
00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,800
Speaker 3: in that late night space, particularly with one venue that

138
00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,120
Speaker 3: come to the table and very positively suggested some more

139
00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 3: actions that they could do that the police thought would

140
00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 3: be a good idea, so that school getting implemented in

141
00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,160
Speaker 3: time for this weekend. No one should be coming to

142
00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,320
Speaker 3: town and thinking it's time to play up, doesn't matter

143
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 3: where they come from in the territory. But the point

144
00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,880
Speaker 3: I did reiterate with the police yesterday is we'll definitely

145
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,960
Speaker 3: focus on that. Don't use that as a guide or

146
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:49,400
Speaker 3: the itinerant horrible behavior that's going on in plain sight

147
00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:51,560
Speaker 3: that doesn't seem to be under control.

148
00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,760
Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce, the CEO of Hospitality here in the

149
00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,040
Speaker 1: Northern Territory, we'll leave it there. I hope you have

150
00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,000
Speaker 1: a good Easter, and no doubt we'll to again very soon.

151
00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: Hopefully our hospitality industry has a busy easter.

152
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,720
Speaker 3: That's it. I'm speaking to the accommodation providers yesterday. It

153
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,920
Speaker 3: seems like it is quite full. It's quite full out

154
00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 3: in Kakado this whole season. So anyone's listening, plan and

155
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,720
Speaker 3: book and book ahead. That's definitely the tip. So yeah,

156
00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,360
Speaker 3: everyone have a great easter and let's just let's just

157
00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 3: calm down on the incessant rule changes for a while.

158
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,880
Speaker 1: Alex, thank you as always for having a chat with

159
00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 1: us this morning. Like I said, we weren't planning on

160
00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:33,800
Speaker 1: talking to you today, so we appreciate your time.

161
00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:35,680
Speaker 3: Jim Katie all the best.

162
00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:36,079
Speaker 1: Thank you,