Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We know. The new Designated Area Migration Agreement has been
secured for the Northern Territory. It's aimed to help businesses
recruit and retain workers for roles in high demand. It's
been expanded from one hundred and thirty five occupations to
three hundred and twenty five across industries where there are
critical workforce shortages. With the agreement in place now until
(00:21):
twenty thirty, The new DAMA allows for up to fifteen
hundred approved nominations per year for overseas workers on skilled visas,
up from the previous six hundred and twenty five under
the last agreement. Now joining me in the studio is
Hospitality and To CEO Kathy Simmons. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Thanks so much for joining me in the studio. Now, Kathy,
what does this agreement mean for the industry in the
Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's a really fantastic result. This is a really fantastic result.
The territory economy really depends on skilled migrants, especially ones
that come here and stay here for multiple years like
they do under the DAMA.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
This is really exciting now in terms of our workforce
shortages in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
At the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
How are things going.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, it's obviously, you know, it's definitely a struggle. We've
seen that. You know, population growth here in the territory
is flat, Migration here is flat, despite agreements like the
DARMA kind of bringing people here. And that's why, you know,
everyone really should be over the moon. Everyone who's interested
in the territory economy and seeing it improve should be
(01:29):
really over the moon that this agreement has so many
more visas coming to the territory every year.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
In a like, I guess in a real practical sense
for you know, for some of our hospitality businesses, what
has it meant, you know, not knowing exactly what the
next DARMA is going to be or when it was
the you know, six hundred and six hundred odd, what
does it meant for some of those businesses in terms
of trying to staff their rosters and make sure they've
got enough stuff on board to be able to do
(01:57):
the jobs that they need.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, I mean there's quite a backlog. Think for the
departments who process these applications. As soon as applications reopen,
which should be the thirty first of March, they'll they'll
definitely have a lot of work to start with from
the get go. It's really important. We've got a lot
of we attracked a lot of cooks, chefs, venue managers
to the territory who people who come here to Australia,
(02:21):
you know, wanting the Australian lifestyle and then they find it,
you know, in spades. Dar and getting people here and
keeping them here is really the really key. It's it's
been quite a paddic attack for for certainly the hospitality industry,
building as well, Construction master Builders has been really strong
on this as well. The Chamber of Commerce has had
(02:43):
a great role in this as well. Yeah, we've all
had a massive panic attack for the last couple of months.
But it's it's this is this is an excellent result. Yeah,
it's the way.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Is it better than what you had expected that it
was going to be in terms of the numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah. I mean when we saw there was a delay,
I think we were kind of hoping we'll just put
back what we had before. And you know, as long
as we've got something like that's you know, we really
need it back through because it really does that the
terms of it this agreement, specifically for the Northern Territory
really encourage you know, people who want to work in
Australia to really want to work in the Northern Territory
(03:19):
and like that's what we really need. Yeah, yeah, no,
this is this is wildly it's more than twice as
many visus as before, from six twenty five a year
to fifteen hundred, seventeen sorry, seventy five hundred more skilled
migrants in the Northern Territory over the next five years.
I think with a really good marketing campaign in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne,
(03:41):
working holiday makers who are already here, who could be
shown this lifestyle that we've got here in the territory,
come here, stay here for two years and get fast
tracked to permanent residency and consider living in the territory.
This we can fill those seventy five.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Because it's always an interesting discussion, I reckon wherever we
talk about this kind of thing, people go, why don't
we have locals doing the jobs? And you know, why
don't we have Ossie's doing those jobs? But the fact is,
you know, we actually, like we are reliant on the
international workforce in a lot of ways. When it comes
to an industry like hospitality, I mean you'd spoken about
even the building industry and others, but certainly in hospital
(04:20):
and I reckon we saw that enormously throughout COVID, right,
Like we went from you know, having plenty of staff
to then going, goodness me, We're like, how do we
even operate at the moment without those international stuff? So,
you know, I think it's always really interesting.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
One.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I'm sure we'd love to have locals be able to
fill those jobs, but the fact is we sort of
can't rely on it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, we just don't have enough locals to fill the jobs.
You know, every These are all skilled jobs that we're
talking about here as well, and you know CityU runs
hospitality courses, certificates and other courses in hospitality and they're
all full, you know, in commercial cookery and things like,
they're full. There's a lot of demand for that here
(05:02):
locally at the training institutes here in the territory. And
if we were to attract Australians to fill these jobs,
like we'd still have to do the marketing campaign down
south to try and get people here. And that's the case,
you know, we already do that as well. This is
this extra incentive, you know, Australians are here, and they're
(05:22):
already here. They're already citizens, are already permanent residents. This
is something extra for skilled migrants who wants that Australian
lifestyle and we can give it to them.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Kathy, what roles most like in most demand at the
moment when it comes to hospitality.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's definitely the ones in demand are the ones that
combine the qualification with you know, years of experience as
a real value. You know, there's no experience like working
on the job, so chefs, cooks, venue managers. Yesterday I
went and had a bit of a chat to Samula
at the who's the executive chef at Double Tree by
(06:00):
Hilton and the Hilton Garden Inn, and also Carmen here
who is the venue manager down at Wharf One. It's
so good to hear their stories and see why they've
chosen Darwin. And the consistent thing coming through with other
DARMA applicants and visa holders is that they've already chosen
Australia and now they've only just learned about Darwin and
(06:22):
gone like this is amazing. What did anyone tell me
about Darwin? Because it's great to hear.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And that's what you want, right like, you want those
success stories. You want people that want to stay here,
that want to make a life of it and can
see the opportunities that we've got in the end, When
do you anticipate that we're going to start to see
some of those workers flow into the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I mean, as with any migration, it does take time.
So some of them will kind of already be here
and it's just a matter of transitioning them to this
alternative visa. Some will be down south waiting to see
if the darma happens again, and then they'll hopefully they
come here soon from like go to Woh's. It can
be as short as sort of four to six weeks
(07:04):
for an application to be trained, really quick, isn't it.
That's really quick by our government standards for sure, for
any application. So that's you know, hopefully we start seeing
people really quick, you know, for hospitality particularly, we've got
the dry season. It's really exciting, really busy, and we
really needed to start getting some people in here yesterday.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So do you have any idea of exactly how many
we need for the Northern Territory right now?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It's hard to say because each individual is different, and
they kind of choose to come and stay or you
choose to come and stay for a bit and then leave.
We have a lot not just the hospitality, not just building,
and not just migrants. We have a lot of people
who choose to come here for a six month job
and then stay for the next twenty years. I'm an
example of that. I came here for a six month
(07:49):
job and three weeks in I was telling people, I'm
going to be here for the next twenty years.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I reckon, It's like, there is so many people like that.
All you've got to do is go for you know,
a walk around, have a bit of a chat to people.
I think we're all kind of in that situation, right.
I did that about twenty two years ago as well.
And you're just like, it's a wonderful place. It is
such like there's so many opportunities for people. And if
you can sell that and people realize once they spend
a bit of time here, you know, hopefully they stay.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, definitely. And when you talk to people who have
chosen the territory as a place to live, you know,
I keep saying, Darwin, but you know, all across the
territory and you know down the track as well. It's
really exciting talking to people and you really kind of
cherish the things that you chose about the place as well,
or what made you decide to come here or to
stay here as well. And you know, there's a lot
of you know, it's a busy week, it's Parliament sitting.
(08:38):
There's you know, lots of things in the paper, lots
of you know, good and bad things, I suppose, But
I just want to say this is one of the
really good economic like really good story for the Northern
Territory and this is a really big win for both
the federal government and the territory government. Like this is
an amazing thing they've agreed today.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, yesterday, Yeah, all good stuff. Well, Kathy Lovely U
speak to you this morning. Thank you very much for
joining us in the Student your hospitality. Nt CEO Kathy Simmons,
thank you, thank you,
We know. The new Designated Area Migration Agreement has been
secured for the Northern Territory. It's aimed to help businesses
recruit and retain workers for roles in high demand. It's
been expanded from one hundred and thirty five occupations to
three hundred and twenty five across industries where there are
critical workforce shortages. With the agreement in place now until
(00:21):
twenty thirty, The new DAMA allows for up to fifteen
hundred approved nominations per year for overseas workers on skilled visas,
up from the previous six hundred and twenty five under
the last agreement. Now joining me in the studio is
Hospitality and To CEO Kathy Simmons. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Thanks so much for joining me in the studio. Now, Kathy,
what does this agreement mean for the industry in the
Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's a really fantastic result. This is a really fantastic result.
The territory economy really depends on skilled migrants, especially ones
that come here and stay here for multiple years like
they do under the DAMA.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
This is really exciting now in terms of our workforce
shortages in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
At the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
How are things going.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, it's obviously, you know, it's definitely a struggle. We've
seen that. You know, population growth here in the territory
is flat, Migration here is flat, despite agreements like the
DARMA kind of bringing people here. And that's why, you know,
everyone really should be over the moon. Everyone who's interested
in the territory economy and seeing it improve should be
(01:29):
really over the moon that this agreement has so many
more visas coming to the territory every year.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
In a like, I guess in a real practical sense
for you know, for some of our hospitality businesses, what
has it meant, you know, not knowing exactly what the
next DARMA is going to be or when it was
the you know, six hundred and six hundred odd, what
does it meant for some of those businesses in terms
of trying to staff their rosters and make sure they've
got enough stuff on board to be able to do
(01:57):
the jobs that they need.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, I mean there's quite a backlog. Think for the
departments who process these applications. As soon as applications reopen,
which should be the thirty first of March, they'll they'll
definitely have a lot of work to start with from
the get go. It's really important. We've got a lot
of we attracked a lot of cooks, chefs, venue managers
to the territory who people who come here to Australia,
(02:21):
you know, wanting the Australian lifestyle and then they find it,
you know, in spades. Dar and getting people here and
keeping them here is really the really key. It's it's
been quite a paddic attack for for certainly the hospitality industry,
building as well, Construction master Builders has been really strong
on this as well. The Chamber of Commerce has had
(02:43):
a great role in this as well. Yeah, we've all
had a massive panic attack for the last couple of months.
But it's it's this is this is an excellent result. Yeah,
it's the way.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Is it better than what you had expected that it
was going to be in terms of the numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah. I mean when we saw there was a delay,
I think we were kind of hoping we'll just put
back what we had before. And you know, as long
as we've got something like that's you know, we really
need it back through because it really does that the
terms of it this agreement, specifically for the Northern Territory
really encourage you know, people who want to work in
Australia to really want to work in the Northern Territory
(03:19):
and like that's what we really need. Yeah, yeah, no,
this is this is wildly it's more than twice as
many visus as before, from six twenty five a year
to fifteen hundred, seventeen sorry, seventy five hundred more skilled
migrants in the Northern Territory over the next five years.
I think with a really good marketing campaign in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne,
(03:41):
working holiday makers who are already here, who could be
shown this lifestyle that we've got here in the territory,
come here, stay here for two years and get fast
tracked to permanent residency and consider living in the territory.
This we can fill those seventy five.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Because it's always an interesting discussion, I reckon wherever we
talk about this kind of thing, people go, why don't
we have locals doing the jobs? And you know, why
don't we have Ossie's doing those jobs? But the fact is,
you know, we actually, like we are reliant on the
international workforce in a lot of ways. When it comes
to an industry like hospitality, I mean you'd spoken about
even the building industry and others, but certainly in hospital
(04:20):
and I reckon we saw that enormously throughout COVID, right,
Like we went from you know, having plenty of staff
to then going, goodness me, We're like, how do we
even operate at the moment without those international stuff? So,
you know, I think it's always really interesting.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
One.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I'm sure we'd love to have locals be able to
fill those jobs, but the fact is we sort of
can't rely on it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, we just don't have enough locals to fill the jobs.
You know, every These are all skilled jobs that we're
talking about here as well, and you know CityU runs
hospitality courses, certificates and other courses in hospitality and they're
all full, you know, in commercial cookery and things like,
they're full. There's a lot of demand for that here
(05:02):
locally at the training institutes here in the territory. And
if we were to attract Australians to fill these jobs,
like we'd still have to do the marketing campaign down
south to try and get people here. And that's the case,
you know, we already do that as well. This is
this extra incentive, you know, Australians are here, and they're
(05:22):
already here. They're already citizens, are already permanent residents. This
is something extra for skilled migrants who wants that Australian
lifestyle and we can give it to them.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Kathy, what roles most like in most demand at the
moment when it comes to hospitality.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's definitely the ones in demand are the ones that
combine the qualification with you know, years of experience as
a real value. You know, there's no experience like working
on the job, so chefs, cooks, venue managers. Yesterday I
went and had a bit of a chat to Samula
at the who's the executive chef at Double Tree by
(06:00):
Hilton and the Hilton Garden Inn, and also Carmen here
who is the venue manager down at Wharf One. It's
so good to hear their stories and see why they've
chosen Darwin. And the consistent thing coming through with other
DARMA applicants and visa holders is that they've already chosen
Australia and now they've only just learned about Darwin and
(06:22):
gone like this is amazing. What did anyone tell me
about Darwin? Because it's great to hear.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And that's what you want, right like, you want those
success stories. You want people that want to stay here,
that want to make a life of it and can
see the opportunities that we've got in the end, When
do you anticipate that we're going to start to see
some of those workers flow into the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I mean, as with any migration, it does take time.
So some of them will kind of already be here
and it's just a matter of transitioning them to this
alternative visa. Some will be down south waiting to see
if the darma happens again, and then they'll hopefully they
come here soon from like go to Woh's. It can
be as short as sort of four to six weeks
(07:04):
for an application to be trained, really quick, isn't it.
That's really quick by our government standards for sure, for
any application. So that's you know, hopefully we start seeing
people really quick, you know, for hospitality particularly, we've got
the dry season. It's really exciting, really busy, and we
really needed to start getting some people in here yesterday.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So do you have any idea of exactly how many
we need for the Northern Territory right now?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It's hard to say because each individual is different, and
they kind of choose to come and stay or you
choose to come and stay for a bit and then leave.
We have a lot not just the hospitality, not just building,
and not just migrants. We have a lot of people
who choose to come here for a six month job
and then stay for the next twenty years. I'm an
example of that. I came here for a six month
(07:49):
job and three weeks in I was telling people, I'm
going to be here for the next twenty years.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I reckon, It's like, there is so many people like that.
All you've got to do is go for you know,
a walk around, have a bit of a chat to people.
I think we're all kind of in that situation, right.
I did that about twenty two years ago as well.
And you're just like, it's a wonderful place. It is
such like there's so many opportunities for people. And if
you can sell that and people realize once they spend
a bit of time here, you know, hopefully they stay.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, definitely. And when you talk to people who have
chosen the territory as a place to live, you know,
I keep saying, Darwin, but you know, all across the
territory and you know down the track as well. It's
really exciting talking to people and you really kind of
cherish the things that you chose about the place as well,
or what made you decide to come here or to
stay here as well. And you know, there's a lot
of you know, it's a busy week, it's Parliament sitting.
(08:38):
There's you know, lots of things in the paper, lots
of you know, good and bad things, I suppose, But
I just want to say this is one of the
really good economic like really good story for the Northern
Territory and this is a really big win for both
the federal government and the territory government. Like this is
an amazing thing they've agreed today.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, yesterday, Yeah, all good stuff. Well, Kathy Lovely U
speak to you this morning. Thank you very much for
joining us in the Student your hospitality. Nt CEO Kathy Simmons,
thank you, thank you,
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