Every now and then Steven Roberts falls back into his home town accent and you could swear you’re talking to John, Paul, George or Ringo. Hailing from a village just outside a Liverpool, Steven left the UK after getting a degree in information technology from the University of Sheffield and made his way to Australia to backpack. He landed in Kings Cross, Sydney, eventually making his way up to Cairns before cutting back across the country to the red centre. From there he made a fateful decision to head north. Like to many others before him, he landed in Darwin and got a job pulling beers for a local pub. He then met Lisa, a local girl, and the rest is history. Steven started his own IT company eight years ago and it is now one of the leading IT companies in the Territory. As well as his life story, Steven takes the opportunity to talk about some of the challenges his clients have been facing since Covid-19, including cyber security and working from home. It is useful advice for Territory businesses.

Originally from Colombia in South America, Ben came to Darwin in 2015 to learn English after he flunked his English exam in the fourth year of finance degree in Colombia.

His idea was to stay for a short time, learn the language and go back to Colombia. But like so many others, he fell in love with the Territory and decided to study for a business degree at Charles Darwin University (CDU).

During his course Ben was elected President of the CDU Students’ Association and was National Secretary of the Council of International Students. In 2017 he won the Chief Minister’s award for International Student of the Year.

Ben is now working at CDU as an International Student Support Project Officer. He’s just another example of a Territory success story.

This is Ben’s story. Ben also has a Q&A with Anke Nagel, one of our migration agents, on Covid-19 issues affecting overseas students in Australia.

We now take a trip across the globe to Oslo, Norway, and speak with Niels Kiær. Niels is a lawyer with law firm, Rime. We ask Niels about how Covid-19 has affected Norway and how the country has responded to it. We learn about Norway’s economy and its sovereign wealth fund which is the richest in the world.

Cruz was born in India, grew up in Oman, worked in the Middle East before migrating to Australia and arriving in Darwin. He is the owner and manager of Creative Down Under (CDU), a local marketing company. Cruz has two endearing qualities that combined form a powerful force for spreading good in the community - he’s both creative and has a positive mindset. With this instinct, Cruz has set up #uNiTy, a hashtag that promotes all the positive things people are doing in the Territory during this Covid-19 crisis. Like an Indian restaurant giving away free food or the bakery making a toilet paper cake, Cruz is out there promoting a good news in a unique way.

Kaliopi Hourdas is an employment lawyer at Ward Keller. In this episode, Kaliopi participates in a question and answer session on issues currently facing employers and employees in a Covid-19 environment. She answers questions like: ‘Can an employee be stood down?’ ‘Can an employee work from home?’ and more. Here’s a link to access to the written questions and answers: https://www.wardkeller.com.au/publications/covid-19-and-employment-law-3/

One area of law that has exploded in queries since the Covid-19 shutdown has been migration. What happens to workers on temporary work visas? In this episode we speak with Anke Nagel and Rachael Adolphe, both experienced migration agents, about the questions being asked by this unprotected but important part of our population.

Ron is a lawyer in Xiamen, China. Ron’s firm, Sphere-Logic, is a member of Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW).

While Covid-19 wreaks havoc around the world, life is slowing going back to normal for China.

Ron gives us local insight into how the virus came to Xiamen and how he and his family coped with the enforced isolation.

It’s a fascinating story into how cultural differences play out in an international crisis.

Darren Lynch is an owner of Wharf One restaurant in Darwin.

When the Australian Government announced on 23 March 2020 that all restaurant were to close their doors to dine in patrons, Darren had to stand down 70% of his staff.

In typical Territory fashion he and his partner, Pina, put their thinking caps on and came up with an idea - Bella Pasta!

Wharf One restaurant is now cranking out up to 200kg of pasta each day for local food sellers. This is especially helpful when the supermarkets are struggling to keep up with demand.

It’s an inspirational story for all of us trying to work through these challenging times.

Bill Savarino is a former chair of Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW) and lawyer based in Washington D.C. Being close to the epicentre of this unfolding crisis in New York, Bill talks about life in the US right now and how the country to dealing with Covid-19.

Tessa Czislowski is a Partner at Ward Keller and a Family Law practitioner. As the Covid 19 tightens it’s grip on our lives, one area that is under tremendous stress, are families caught up in relationship breakdowns. It’s hard enough dealing with this in normal times, but how do people deal with family issues during a global crisis? There are lots of questions and Tessa does a brilliant job answering these. Anyone who is separated or divorced will find the information here very helpful.