Mindil Beach Casino short hundreds of workers amid skills crisis

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The real toll of the jobs and skills crisis on the Territory economy has been laid bare with one of the Territory’s main businesses revealing the true extent of the slowdown.

Mindil Beach Casino Resort is one of the Territory’s best-known businesses but its profile has not been enough to secure staff to meet the busy tourism season’s demands.

Casino general manager Avril Baynes said pre-Covid the casino had a staff headcount of 690. Currently, they’re down to about 420.

Unfilled vacancies currently sit around 160 compared to 30 pre-Covid.

“It’s been a significant gap not having the international students,” Mrs Baynes said.

“It makes a significant impact to our operational hours but we’ve got to make sure that the loyal team we do have get enough rest.

“So you see that there’s been some changes since we reopened with restaurants, we’ve stopped them opening seven days a week. So we just need to reduce those hours. It’s our preference to reduce hours and maintain that high level of service that people expect when they come here.”

Mindil Beach Casino Resort general manager Avril Baynes

Details of staffing challenges at the casino came as the government said one of its worker attraction programs had succeeded in easing skills shortages in hospitality.

Launched in June, the Territory Government combined with Hospitality NT to design a Responsible Service of Alcohol course for international students to allow them to work in hospitality.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said so far 130 international students had participated in the course and were now transferring those skills in pubs and venues across the Territory.

“This course was designed to support students getting into those roles – 130 students have participated in that program and we will continue to work closely with industry,” Ms Fyles said.

“We know international students come to the Territory and love it. They love being in a regional centre and our climate can be similar to where they’re from.”

The international education sector is worth $167m to the economy and International Education Minister Ngaree Ah Kit wants a substantial increase in the approximately 3000 foreign students who study in the Territory.

“Our international students bring so much vibrancy to the Northern Territory,” she said.

“They don’t only live here and love this place, they spend in the economy and they also work and contribute to our broader community.

“We’d love to increase that number from 3000 international students to 10,000 over the next couple of years so we’re working very diligently to attract that number of students because we think they’ll have an amazing time here in the Northern Territory.”

The government committed $1m in the 2022-23 Budget to attract international students.

Business, Jobs and Trade Minister Paul Kirby will this week lead a delegation of business and industry to East Timor in part to attract workers to the Territory.

Originally published as Mindil Beach Casino short hundreds of workers amid skills crisis