NT Chamber Of Commerce CEO Greg Ireland on the CLP's promise to cut payroll tax for small businesses
September 3, 2024 • 9 mins
International Students, change of Government, Payroll Tax
Through the election, we know there were plenty of commitments made by both parties but one commitment which the CLP made was one to cut payroll tax. It was a promise which drew criticism from the Labor party but support from the business industry.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So through the election there were plenty of commitments made
by both parties, but one commitment which is CLP made
was one to cut payroll tax. Now it was a
promise which drew criticism from the Labor Party but support
from the business industry. And joining me in the studio
is Greg Island, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning Katie, and it's great to be in Purson
for each other.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Could you seeing you in this studo? I haven't seen
you for ages. Good to have you on the show. Now,
tell me in terms of that change of government, what's
the reaction been from the business community.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I think both in the business community and the community
more broadly. You know, there's been a real appetite for
some change, and I think that's been evidenced by the outcome.
The new incoming governments certainly got a mandate to move
forward with some of the items that they've been talking about.
And I think we can see this such a strong
focus on the crime and any social behavior, which was
(00:56):
the corner zone of the reason behind the changing government.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think we'll find Yeah, I agree with you. I
think that a lot of people really were quite fed
up with the state of some of the issues that
we're seeing with crime. But luck something that I found
really interesting and enjoyed watching was when Sky News did
their debate with the Chamber in the leading and talking
a little bit more about some of the industry concerns
around getting things going in the Northern Territory with the
(01:21):
economy as well. I mean, what are some of those
key things that you are hoping the incoming government sort
of does focus on when it comes to the economy
and getting things moving.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, look, that was a fantastic event, certainly for us
from a national branding perspective, was a great opportunity, and
what we did want to focus on was the economics
of the territory. There's been plenty of conversation around the
crime issue, and putting that to one side, we really
did want to focus on getting things going. And I
guess question number one was around private sector investment. How
(01:54):
an incoming government really stimulate that that enables government to
stop spending money on stimulus active vities and spend it
on infrastructure and more social based activities. That for us
is very much a key and we can see that
with projects like the be Toloo which is going to
create some income for the territory government, both in royalties
but also in more general activity around the community. So
(02:16):
there's some strategies that they can work on there. Obviously,
we also touched on red tape and getting around approval
processes and how they can be drastically reduced in time.
Anecdotally we hear that the territories are much harder place
to do business than it is in Queensland and Western Australia.
So why is that and how can we fix it?
Those are some key issues and obviously payroll tax was
(02:38):
firmly on our list, as it has been for decades.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
For quite some time, and it was an interesting one
right in the leading because the former government was sort
of saying, oh, it's only got a benefits major companies,
really big business like Woolworts and Coals and sort of
rattled off a few But what is the situation with
the payroll tax? I mean from discussions that you and
I had had prior to the election, I got the
(03:01):
sense that it was going to be a benefit to
a lot of territory businesses.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It is one of those areas that we feel that
at tax on employment is at taxed that disincentivize investment
in business, so we understand there's a place for it,
and one of the key reasons and when you look
back historically and index what CPI has done over the
period of time since it was last adjusted, it should
have been cpied up from one point five to two
(03:29):
million dollars. Anyway, we asked for additional five hundred thousand
on top of that to give it a bit of
headroom for the next few years. So for us, that
was pretty logical. You know that there are claims that
that fifty five thousand dollars, which is an increase of
a million at five point five percent, will be applying
applicable to every business, and that is absolutely true. But
(03:49):
what we're going to see is that fifty five thousand
dollars that many businesses are paying well part thereof reinvested
back into their business. It's about ability to recruit, more
about the ability to improve your capability and capacity to deliver.
We know that these projects are coming, we are going
to see considerably increase in activity. We need to be
(04:10):
ready for that, and the support industry around the projects
needs to be ready for that. So we thought that
was a great opportunity for those businesses to reinvest, and
whilst there will be some savings at the larger end
of town, we're also going to see much more project
activity and then it's by naturally going to reinvigorate that
payroll tax income anyway. So I'd be surprised if there's
(04:32):
any substantial loss in revenue, but there's a much bigger
ability for small business to invest.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah. Right, so it should actually realistically do what is
intended I suppose of what they're hoping, and that is
that reinvestment and to get things taken along.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah. Absolutely, and we certainly welcomed the non inclusion of
trainees and apprentices in that calculation as well. That's a
significant invest incentive for business to train more local people.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Hey, what do you think about this? I think it's
I think they've dubbed it the territory coordinator role. Is
there any word on who's going to be doing that
or any idea how it's going to look.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
We are very much watching this space on that one.
And territory government previous government has made a significant investment
in investment territory and that has been doing significant amounts
of work and really heavily engaged in encouraging investment outside
of the territory into the territory. So we want to
(05:28):
see that continue. We have no issue with it being
segmented off and giving some additional responsibility or capability to
make that happen. But we're certainly very interested to see
how that's going to play out. We think it's going
to follow a similar model to Queensland and perhaps Western Australia.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Okay, and has that worked okay there from what you've.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Seen to our knowledge, it's been okay. One of our
biggest challenges is taking investment opportunities away from Queensland and
Western Australia. So Mom would argue they're probably doing it
better than us.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, right, I will. It is something we'll keep an
eye on. I guess we're all waiting to see sort
of who takes on those portfolios next week and that
kind of stuff too. So it's going to be, you know,
even going to be interesting in terms of major projects,
in terms of business and just industry more general. Who
takes on those roles and what kind of tact they take.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Look, absolutely, we're kind of sort of twiddling our thumbs, yeah, waiting,
I'm waiting for those things to occur so that we
can really start those conversations again, because what we're doing
is we're resetting our relationships with government. Whilst we know
the people as individuals, we don't necessarily know them in
that context, and they don't know us in the roles
that we've been playing today. So we've really got a
(06:40):
forge o's relationships. I think it's going to stay within
the core group because there is quite a few new faces.
I think there will also be some exceptions to that.
So it's going to make some interesting reading when it
is announced.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, well it certainly will. Hey, I spoke yesterday to
the Charles Darwin University Vice Chancellor Scott Bowman. The City
Camp is really just about ready to you know, to open,
but the number of international students it's still not exactly
where he'd hoped it would be at this point in time.
The federal government releasing those details and saying that there's
(07:11):
going to be twenty two hundred commencements for next year,
I mean, what do you think it means for the
Northern Territory Because we were really I mean, we're so
hopeful about that City Campus and about really having a
huge impact in terms of getting the city really moving.
What do you make of those changes to the number
of international students.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It's a bit of a mixed bag, Katie. It's actually
a larger number than what we were allocated with, so
that's a positive. It's not as much as we wanted,
but we've got to start somewhere, and we know that
there's submissions from anti government around migration strategies, including skill
migration and international students that he is asking for more,
(07:52):
and that process is still underway, so I don't think
that's a fixed in stone outcome either and can be
manipulate over time at a federal government level. And we
know there's an election coming up there as well, so
you know there's a further opportunity sort of inside the
next twelve months. But I think it's important to recognize
that this is also accumulative total, so that twenty two
(08:15):
hundred is per auntum. A lot of these courses take
more than one year, so when you get a student,
you've got them for two, three, multiple years, and you're
building on that all the time. So I think getting
to their target of short term target of six thousand
is achievable, and getting to their longer term target of
ten might require some further assistance from the federal government,
(08:37):
but we've got a little bit of time up our
sleeves to do so. The important part there is is
student accommodation in how we get these people accommodated to
support the university in the campus in the city, and
that's going to have such an enabling opportunity for the
community in general with having workforce and having consumers in
those markets in town which we've blacked for a while.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Absolutely be good, be really good to see the place
bustling if we're able to get it that way. It
looks good down there, though it does not.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It looks fantastic. I haven't seen insight yet, but I'm
hearing very very good things. I know that the Chamber
will be hosting business at sunset event therefore their opening,
and we're just waiting for the timing, so we're very
much looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, our good stuff for Greg Island, d C of
the Chamber of Commerce. Always good to catch up with you.
Thanks so much for joining us in the studio this morning.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You're welcome
So through the election there were plenty of commitments made
by both parties, but one commitment which is CLP made
was one to cut payroll tax. Now it was a
promise which drew criticism from the Labor Party but support
from the business industry. And joining me in the studio
is Greg Island, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning Katie, and it's great to be in Purson
for each other.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Could you seeing you in this studo? I haven't seen
you for ages. Good to have you on the show. Now,
tell me in terms of that change of government, what's
the reaction been from the business community.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I think both in the business community and the community
more broadly. You know, there's been a real appetite for
some change, and I think that's been evidenced by the outcome.
The new incoming governments certainly got a mandate to move
forward with some of the items that they've been talking about.
And I think we can see this such a strong
focus on the crime and any social behavior, which was
(00:56):
the corner zone of the reason behind the changing government.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think we'll find Yeah, I agree with you. I
think that a lot of people really were quite fed
up with the state of some of the issues that
we're seeing with crime. But luck something that I found
really interesting and enjoyed watching was when Sky News did
their debate with the Chamber in the leading and talking
a little bit more about some of the industry concerns
around getting things going in the Northern Territory with the
(01:21):
economy as well. I mean, what are some of those
key things that you are hoping the incoming government sort
of does focus on when it comes to the economy
and getting things moving.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, look, that was a fantastic event, certainly for us
from a national branding perspective, was a great opportunity, and
what we did want to focus on was the economics
of the territory. There's been plenty of conversation around the
crime issue, and putting that to one side, we really
did want to focus on getting things going. And I
guess question number one was around private sector investment. How
(01:54):
an incoming government really stimulate that that enables government to
stop spending money on stimulus active vities and spend it
on infrastructure and more social based activities. That for us
is very much a key and we can see that
with projects like the be Toloo which is going to
create some income for the territory government, both in royalties
but also in more general activity around the community. So
(02:16):
there's some strategies that they can work on there. Obviously,
we also touched on red tape and getting around approval
processes and how they can be drastically reduced in time.
Anecdotally we hear that the territories are much harder place
to do business than it is in Queensland and Western Australia.
So why is that and how can we fix it?
Those are some key issues and obviously payroll tax was
(02:38):
firmly on our list, as it has been for decades.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
For quite some time, and it was an interesting one
right in the leading because the former government was sort
of saying, oh, it's only got a benefits major companies,
really big business like Woolworts and Coals and sort of
rattled off a few But what is the situation with
the payroll tax? I mean from discussions that you and
I had had prior to the election, I got the
(03:01):
sense that it was going to be a benefit to
a lot of territory businesses.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It is one of those areas that we feel that
at tax on employment is at taxed that disincentivize investment
in business, so we understand there's a place for it,
and one of the key reasons and when you look
back historically and index what CPI has done over the
period of time since it was last adjusted, it should
have been cpied up from one point five to two
(03:29):
million dollars. Anyway, we asked for additional five hundred thousand
on top of that to give it a bit of
headroom for the next few years. So for us, that
was pretty logical. You know that there are claims that
that fifty five thousand dollars, which is an increase of
a million at five point five percent, will be applying
applicable to every business, and that is absolutely true. But
(03:49):
what we're going to see is that fifty five thousand
dollars that many businesses are paying well part thereof reinvested
back into their business. It's about ability to recruit, more
about the ability to improve your capability and capacity to deliver.
We know that these projects are coming, we are going
to see considerably increase in activity. We need to be
(04:10):
ready for that, and the support industry around the projects
needs to be ready for that. So we thought that
was a great opportunity for those businesses to reinvest, and
whilst there will be some savings at the larger end
of town, we're also going to see much more project
activity and then it's by naturally going to reinvigorate that
payroll tax income anyway. So I'd be surprised if there's
(04:32):
any substantial loss in revenue, but there's a much bigger
ability for small business to invest.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah. Right, so it should actually realistically do what is
intended I suppose of what they're hoping, and that is
that reinvestment and to get things taken along.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah. Absolutely, and we certainly welcomed the non inclusion of
trainees and apprentices in that calculation as well. That's a
significant invest incentive for business to train more local people.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Hey, what do you think about this? I think it's
I think they've dubbed it the territory coordinator role. Is
there any word on who's going to be doing that
or any idea how it's going to look.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
We are very much watching this space on that one.
And territory government previous government has made a significant investment
in investment territory and that has been doing significant amounts
of work and really heavily engaged in encouraging investment outside
of the territory into the territory. So we want to
(05:28):
see that continue. We have no issue with it being
segmented off and giving some additional responsibility or capability to
make that happen. But we're certainly very interested to see
how that's going to play out. We think it's going
to follow a similar model to Queensland and perhaps Western Australia.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Okay, and has that worked okay there from what you've.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Seen to our knowledge, it's been okay. One of our
biggest challenges is taking investment opportunities away from Queensland and
Western Australia. So Mom would argue they're probably doing it
better than us.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, right, I will. It is something we'll keep an
eye on. I guess we're all waiting to see sort
of who takes on those portfolios next week and that
kind of stuff too. So it's going to be, you know,
even going to be interesting in terms of major projects,
in terms of business and just industry more general. Who
takes on those roles and what kind of tact they take.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Look, absolutely, we're kind of sort of twiddling our thumbs, yeah, waiting,
I'm waiting for those things to occur so that we
can really start those conversations again, because what we're doing
is we're resetting our relationships with government. Whilst we know
the people as individuals, we don't necessarily know them in
that context, and they don't know us in the roles
that we've been playing today. So we've really got a
(06:40):
forge o's relationships. I think it's going to stay within
the core group because there is quite a few new faces.
I think there will also be some exceptions to that.
So it's going to make some interesting reading when it
is announced.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, well it certainly will. Hey, I spoke yesterday to
the Charles Darwin University Vice Chancellor Scott Bowman. The City
Camp is really just about ready to you know, to open,
but the number of international students it's still not exactly
where he'd hoped it would be at this point in time.
The federal government releasing those details and saying that there's
(07:11):
going to be twenty two hundred commencements for next year,
I mean, what do you think it means for the
Northern Territory Because we were really I mean, we're so
hopeful about that City Campus and about really having a
huge impact in terms of getting the city really moving.
What do you make of those changes to the number
of international students.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It's a bit of a mixed bag, Katie. It's actually
a larger number than what we were allocated with, so
that's a positive. It's not as much as we wanted,
but we've got to start somewhere, and we know that
there's submissions from anti government around migration strategies, including skill
migration and international students that he is asking for more,
(07:52):
and that process is still underway, so I don't think
that's a fixed in stone outcome either and can be
manipulate over time at a federal government level. And we
know there's an election coming up there as well, so
you know there's a further opportunity sort of inside the
next twelve months. But I think it's important to recognize
that this is also accumulative total, so that twenty two
(08:15):
hundred is per auntum. A lot of these courses take
more than one year, so when you get a student,
you've got them for two, three, multiple years, and you're
building on that all the time. So I think getting
to their target of short term target of six thousand
is achievable, and getting to their longer term target of
ten might require some further assistance from the federal government,
(08:37):
but we've got a little bit of time up our
sleeves to do so. The important part there is is
student accommodation in how we get these people accommodated to
support the university in the campus in the city, and
that's going to have such an enabling opportunity for the
community in general with having workforce and having consumers in
those markets in town which we've blacked for a while.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Absolutely be good, be really good to see the place
bustling if we're able to get it that way. It
looks good down there, though it does not.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It looks fantastic. I haven't seen insight yet, but I'm
hearing very very good things. I know that the Chamber
will be hosting business at sunset event therefore their opening,
and we're just waiting for the timing, so we're very
much looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, our good stuff for Greg Island, d C of
the Chamber of Commerce. Always good to catch up with you.
Thanks so much for joining us in the studio this morning.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You're welcome
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