THE federal government has changed the seasonal worker program to include other agricultural industries outside of horticulture and bolster work-force options.
The changes were announced by Employment Minister Michaelia Cash and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and welcomed by the National Farmers Federation (NFF).
Senator Cash said the Seasonal Worker Program had been highly effective in helping Australian businesses overcome seasonal labour shortages and employers in a range of agriculture industries - including cattle, sheep, grain and mixed enterprises - could now apply, to be part of the program.
Minister Joyce said changes to the subclass 416 visa meant more agricultural businesses would benefit in regional areas where labour can be in short supply during peak periods.
“This is good news for Australian farming enterprises that now have more options for seasonal labour and can better plan for their harvests and other busy periods with much greater certainty,” he said.
“This is also good news for citizens from our Seasonal Worker Program partner countries in the Pacific Islands as well Timor Leste who will now have more opportunities to benefit from a wider variety of work experiences while also earning a decent wage.”
The government said critical safeguards were built into the program like the requirement for employers to fully test the local job market before they can apply to recruit workers.
“While we are determined to ensure businesses across Australia have access to the seasonal workers they need, we are equally determined that no Australian misses out on a job,” Minister Cash said.
During a radio interview, Mr Joyce was asked why the visa changes were needed to attract overseas workers when local youth unemployment was about 20-25 per cent in some areas, with one million Australians out of work
He conceded that scenario was unfortunate but in many instances, if overseas workers were unavailable for certain industries like fruit picking, “you just wouldn’t be able to get a crop”.
Mr Joyce said farmers also said quite openly they’re unable to attract workers from local towns and so they needed overseas workers to fill the shortages.
“(Overseas workers) are essential if our nation is to make the money it’s currently getting from soft commodities,” he said.
Mr Joyce said jobs that Australians - including himself - once started their careers at, people no longer wanted to do.
“And yes it is annoying when you go into town and people are just parked around the Kmart just waiting for their pay – it’s not their pay it’s somebody else’s pay – and you wish that they would get out and get going and not only earn themselves a better dollar but give themselves a bit of training in their life,” he said.
“A bit of formation - a bit of discipline “
Mr Joyce said people were now used to work being done by computers or mechanical means and may have developed a fear of manual labour or find it boring.
He said a dairy in his New England electorate had to shut down because they were unable to find anyone to do the manual work and were “absolutely furious” but had asked for refugees to do the work, starting off on $50,000 dollars a year.
The NFF said the seasonal worker program was established by the federal government in 2008 in response to one of its recommendation, to help fill short-term labour needs while opening up new opportunities for individuals and small villages in Timor-Leste and the nine participating Pacific nations.
NFF President Brent Finlay said the changes were common sense measures which would lift the agricultural sector’s profitability, while the visa work program was one of the sector’s “great success stories”.
“These changes will lift existing rules which limit the program to horticulture, cotton, sugarcane and aquaculture and open the program up to all agricultural industries,” he said.
“Our neighbours in the Pacific and East Timor will have increased opportunity to improve their lives while Australian farmers will have the ability to better meet their seasonal labour requirements.
“Australian agricultural exports are forecast to double in the next 15 years but will struggle to do so without an adequate workforce.
“We congratulate the government on this win-win policy initiative as we strive towards a prosperous agricultural sector that will benefit the entire national economy.”
