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Speaker 1: So essentially we know that Boxing Day has been declared

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Speaker 1: a public holiday in the territory. Some of you saying, well,

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Speaker 1: hang on a second. Boxing Day is always a public holiday. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it is. But what it's basically going to mean is

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Speaker 1: that under Northern Territory legislation, if Boxing Day falls on

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Speaker 1: a weekend, the following Monday is designated a public holiday instead.

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Speaker 1: But it is now coming through all this information is

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Speaker 1: now coming through that December twenty six has been deemed

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Speaker 1: an additional public holiday. So what it means is that

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Speaker 1: obviously it is going to be those penalty rates for

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Speaker 1: those who are working on those two days. Now, Karen

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Speaker 1: and Catherine has said Boxing Day falls on a Sunday,

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Speaker 1: so penalties would apply anyway, wouldn't they. Yeah, you're right,

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Speaker 1: I reckon, Karen, but I'm not too sure to what degree.

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Speaker 1: I whether you're getting paid double time, whether it's triple time.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see what we can find out when we

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Speaker 1: catch up with the Chamber. There is another one here

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Speaker 1: that's come through and it says, Hi, Katie, I was

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Speaker 1: under the impression that Monday the twenty seventh was a

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Speaker 1: public holiday for Christmas Day, for Christmas Day and the

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Speaker 1: twenty eighth public holiday for Boxing Day. As I've just

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Speaker 1: completed our appointment book, well let's see what we can

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Speaker 1: find out. Because joining us on the line right now

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Speaker 1: from the Chamber of Commerce, it is the CEO, Greg Island.

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Speaker 1: Get a Greg.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie. How is everything today?

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Speaker 1: Not too bad? Now? Greg, there's a bit of confusion

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Speaker 1: or some people are wondering exactly what the go is

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Speaker 1: with this Boxing Day situation and the public holiday. What

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Speaker 1: exactly has happened here from your perspective, So.

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Speaker 2: The announcement from government indicating that the twenty six is

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Speaker 2: also a public holiday means that both the Sunday, the

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Speaker 2: twenty six, and the Tuesday, the twenty eighth public holidays,

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Speaker 2: which means that if you normally work as a permanent

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Speaker 2: work on that Sunday, you get the day off as

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Speaker 2: paid as you would normally on any public holiday. I

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Speaker 2: guess from a business perspective, the challenge with that is

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Speaker 2: that you're getting you Christmas cape and eating it too,

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Speaker 2: and effectively double dipping on those penalties.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I said it on the show a

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Speaker 1: bit earlier this morning. I know that if you're a

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Speaker 1: casual worker, or if you're somebody who is obviously going

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Speaker 1: to get those paid those penalty rates should be pretty happy.

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Speaker 1: But for a lot of our businesses, they've been having

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Speaker 1: a tough couple of years as it is, and it

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Speaker 1: now means that they will be paying those penalty rates.

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Speaker 1: I'd imagine across those two public holidays. What kind of

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Speaker 1: impact do you reckon that's going to have.

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Speaker 2: Well, this brings me back to the conversation that we

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Speaker 2: had pretty much this time last year, Katie, around the

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Speaker 2: same announcement for Christmas Eve and also New Year's Eve,

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Speaker 2: where those penalty rates applying where they normally didn't, and

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Speaker 2: it effectively means that businesses that are on the boardline

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Speaker 2: of opening to at least break even are probably opening

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Speaker 2: at a loss. And that means it's to be a

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Speaker 2: careful decision as to whether they'll open it all. So

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Speaker 2: if that's the case, those workers would miss out on

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Speaker 2: on their normal wages as well as the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: work on that holiday.

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Speaker 1: Greg, do you reckon that we are going to have

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Speaker 1: a number of businesses who say it's too expensive, we're

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Speaker 1: not going to open.

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Speaker 2: I think there will certainly be that element. There'll be

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Speaker 2: elements that will just take on the responsibility themselves and

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Speaker 2: stand down stuff on that day. So, you know, ultimately business,

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Speaker 2: as you pointed out, has that a pretty tough time.

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Speaker 2: There's not a lot of I guess excess and the

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Speaker 2: kitty to cover these additional expenses, so they'll either be

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Speaker 2: forced to close or potentially do the work themselves. It's

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Speaker 2: a real challenge at the moment for business.

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Speaker 1: Greg. You know, this announcement obviously is on the back

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Speaker 1: of the Chief Finess's announcement a bit earlier in the

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Speaker 1: week that he's changing the bonus for our public servants.

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Speaker 1: How is the business community feeling right now? Are you

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Speaker 1: feeling as though the governor is very much making sure

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Speaker 1: that they're looking after the public service, but maybe not

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Speaker 1: looking after the private sector with the same level of.

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Speaker 2: Care. Yeah, there is an element of mixed messages in

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Speaker 2: some of these announcements. And I guess at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, if those four hundred public servants that

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Speaker 2: have made the decision not to take the vaccination are

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Speaker 2: not going to be replaced and that is going to

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Speaker 2: be spent on the existing staff, what does that indicate.

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Speaker 2: Doesn't mean that there was some excess capacity in the

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Speaker 2: public service. It would seem that is potentially the case,

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Speaker 2: but the private sector is very much I guess, getting

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Speaker 2: the rough end of the pineapple in some cases, particularly

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Speaker 2: the hospitality and tourism sectors on these public holiday events

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Speaker 2: when they need them to support the most.

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Speaker 1: Greg We do know that you know that. Earlier in

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Speaker 1: the week we learned that obviously the borders go to

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Speaker 1: be opening up and there's changes to home quarantine. Is

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Speaker 1: that going to help in some ways when it does

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Speaker 1: come to business sort of getting moving again and you

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Speaker 1: really trying to make ends, mate.

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly a bit of a double ledged sword there,

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Speaker 2: I think, Katie. Yes, we're going to see more visitation

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Speaker 2: and that is a positive thing. We absolutely need our

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Speaker 2: fellow Australians, particularly from Victoria, New South Wales, as soon

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Speaker 2: as that's practically possible to help boost our retail activities.

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Speaker 2: But by the same token, we are going to see

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Speaker 2: and increasing cases as a result of that, and it's

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Speaker 2: super critical that our vaccination rates are high enough to

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Speaker 2: prevent significant outbreaks and the last time we need there's

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Speaker 2: more lockdowns.

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Speaker 1: Look, I'm getting lots of messages this morning on the

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Speaker 1: tech signe about this public holiday situation. There's one here

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Speaker 1: that says Hi Katie, as an owner of a Mitchell

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Speaker 1: Street bar and cafe on the public holiday over Christmas,

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Speaker 1: thirty percent surcharge will be passed on to the consumer

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Speaker 1: if we open it all as we'll be down to

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Speaker 1: interstate and local patrons. Interesting, he goes on then about

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Speaker 1: the public servants. But do you think, like, are we

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Speaker 1: going to see that, Are we going to see businesses

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Speaker 1: having to pass on that surcharge to patrons?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think that's a given. Generally the consumers have

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Speaker 2: been pretty strong in supporting local business. But we know

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Speaker 2: that when there's a mask mandate that businesses are thirty

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Speaker 2: to fifty percent down. If there's a thirty percent surcharge

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Speaker 2: or suspected, they'll also be considering the value proposition of

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Speaker 2: going out on that particular day. So that's going to

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Speaker 2: double impact on the business community.

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Speaker 1: Greg, Before I let you go, how are our business

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Speaker 1: community going in Catherine at the moment?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Look again, doing it tough, particularly around the access

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Speaker 2: to essential services and that sort of thing. People understand

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Speaker 2: down there that this is a new force lockdown for

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Speaker 2: a very good reason. They've been accepting of that, but

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Speaker 2: starting to drag a little bit from a personal perspective,

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Speaker 2: and people are keen to get back into work. So

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Speaker 2: let's hope that there's some more good news today and

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Speaker 2: that opens up pretty soon.

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Speaker 1: Well, we'll make sure that we keep everybody up today

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Speaker 1: as that information comes to hand. Greg Ireland, the CEO

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Speaker 1: of the Chamber of Commerce, thanks so much for your

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Speaker 1: time today.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie, thank you.