Over the next 12 months, AUSVEG will carry on with working with government and industry stakeholders to advocate on the issues affecting potato growers and their operations. In this column, AUSVEG National Public Affairs Manager Tyson Cattle (pictured) provides a detailed overview of the four priorities for labour.

Four-point plan for workforce

The horticulture industry, via the National Farmers’ Federation Horticulture Council, are united in its calls for government intervention in the sector.

The horticulture industry is dealing with significant workforce shortages in the sector with the decline in working holiday makers, which offers a significant opportunity to address a range of concerns within the industry.

As a united horticulture industry, we are calling on the Federal Government to act on these four priority areas as a matter of urgency.

1. Agriculture Harvest Visa

To allow growers with harvest periods of less than nine months access to an efficient and productive workforce, and to remove the reliance on the working holiday maker program and the 88-days.

2. Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement Skill Level 5 additions

To allow growers with a continual harvest period to be able to access a productive and efficient workforce for up to four years.

3. National Labour Hire Licencing Scheme

A single national scheme that labour hire contractors must abide by and that is simple for growers to recognise must be a priority.

4. Improved enforcement and compliance activities

To help level the playing field within the sector by stamping out non-compliance by properly resourcing the Fair Work Ombudsman and Australian Border Force to actively pursue mistreatment in the sector.

It is our strong belief that with these four key issues, which are not new, must be addressed by the Federal Government for the development of the Horticulture sector.

It is important to note, these four points will not address immediate issues, and industry still requires increased quarantine capacity and increased numbers of Seasonal workers into the country to deal with labour shortages.

These four points are immediate areas which the federal government can implement which will help the horticulture industry become a $20 billion sector by 2030.

Long awaited good news on the Ag Visa

AUSVEG has welcomed the announcement that the Federal Government will make a new agriculture work visa available to all 10 countries across South-East Asia.

The new visa would provide a wider pool of workers available to Australian agriculture from the UK and the ten ASEAN countries and will help to meet ongoing seasonal workforce gaps that continue through the pandemic.

According to the announcement from Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, the new seasonal agricultural worker visa would mirror the existing Seasonal Worker Programme and will add to the pool of workers available to work on Australian farms.

“The horticulture industry has been calling for a dedicated and productive workforce for many years and this morning’s announcement is great news for the sector,” AUSVEG National Manager – Public Affairs Tyson Cattle said.

“Growers require access to a productive, reliable and competent workforce and while Working Holiday Makers will always have a role to play within our industry, giving growers and workers a pathway to primarily work on-farm should be seen as a major step froward for the development of the horticulture sector.”

“The ASEAN countries are some of our closest trading partners, so extending the Agriculture Visa to these countries makes economic sense and demonstrates our commitment in helping our regional neighbours.”

“What we need now is timely action to get this visa class up and running, so that we can start bringing in workers as soon as possible when borders open up and international workers are able to enter the country.”

“While we await more details around the visa arrangements for this visa class, we understand the new visa will build on the successful Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme visas that have proved invaluable to the agriculture sector over the past 12 months.”

Find out more

Please contact AUSVEG National Public Affairs Manager Tyson Cattle on 03 9882 0277 or email tyson.cattle@ausveg.com.au.  Further details can be found on the AUSVEG website.