Transcript
RAEL DONDE: The award system - there are 122 awards for different industries in Australia. And on Norfolk Island the hospitality industry and the retail industry are dominant industries. And so we have to abide by the minimum award wage for those particular industries. And so in the accommodation sector, for example, the minimum award wage for the lowest level employees [will be] about $20.21 - so we are going from $15.05 two years ago to $20.21 for the lowest level employee, which they call a grade one employee. For the retail sector it means a jump of at least 35 percent in the next two weeks and for the accommodation at least a 40 percent increase.
DON WISEMAN: The business sector hasn't been that strong has it, I mean it's been touch and go since Canberra made these quite dramatic moves a couple of years ago, so what will this do to it?
RD: Well we are in a period of visitor decline. So in April for instance our visitor numbers declined by 16 percent, they declined in May, they have been declining over the past few months and on top of all of that if you impose these wage increases it means that businesses on the island in order to survive will either have to cut hours or they will have to cut employees completely and so it is going to reduce the services to tourists and it is going to disrupt the tourist industry in a major way. So for instance there won't be any tours on Sundays. Cafe owners are considering closing on days when they would have to pay penalty rates because the penalty rates are so excessive. On a Sunday it is 160%, on a public holiday it is 225%, so it is just unsustainable for businesses on the island. So there will be reduced services and it won't be an ideal destination for tourists because they will be impacted.
DW: So you are going to be providing less services, you will be employing fewer people?
RD: We will be employing fewer people and providing fewer services. So hotels won't provide a service on a Sunday for instance. I just spoke with an hotel owner. She said she would be letting her chef go on a Sunday etc, there won't be any servicing of the rooms on a Sunday, those kinds of things. The tour companies won't provide tours on Sunday. So the services will be reduced and the experience for the visitor will be reduced.
DW: Australia is committed to these moves isn't it, so it's a case of Norfolk Island just accepting it, isn't it?
RD: Well that is correct. I think it is too late in the game to be able to convince Canberra. We have been trying for two years. It's fallen on deaf ears and we are only two weeks away and I cannot see anything being done in the next two weeks. The Minister of Territories does have authority to suspend the extension of award rates in Norfolk Island, however he hasn't exercised that authority. And we have been pleading with him and it just hasn't happened.
