Chief Minister Michael Gunner vows to work with Chamber of Commerce over business concerns

CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has pledged to work with the Chamber of Commerce on concerns raised by the NT business community in its Economic Outlook survey

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has pledged to work with the Chamber of Commerce on concerns raised by the NT business community in its Economic Outlook survey.

CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has pledged to work with the Chamber of Commerce on its proposed five-point plan and concerns raised by the Territory business community in its just completed Economic Outlook survey.

“If the Chamber and the business community give me things they want me to work on, I am more than happy to do that,” Mr Gunner said.

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Mr Gunner said he had met with Chamber of Commerce NT president Greg Ireland to discuss issues around red and green tape, which was a key matter of concern raised in the Chamber’s business survey.

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“I get the frustration that businesses have with red tape in their efforts to do business,” he said.

“There are jobs in cattle, there are jobs in agriculture, there are jobs in tourism that we need to protect.”

Acting Chamber of Commerce chief executive Brian O’Gallagher said it was critical the Chief Minister listened to the results of the survey.

“We are very keen to sit down with the Chief Minister to lend support to improve the economic situation,” he said.

“There were more than 612 responses to our survey, which is the largest response that we can recall in the Chamber’s 60-year history. “

Mr O’Gallagher said speeding up approval processes and stopping new environment legislation threatening genuine industry development had to be a priority for the Chief Minister.

“We also want the tradie scheme reintroduced as an interim measure to help small business and stimulate consumer spending,” he said.