THE Federal government has announced inclusion of workers from Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme, boosting the potential labour force of Australian horticultural farmers.
But industry sources say more work is needed to meet the growing seasonal harvest needs of Australia’s horticultural industry, while chronic labour shortages still need filling in other agricultural sectors.
The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) praised last week’s announcement saying it recognised the pilot scheme’s ongoing role in helping meet the seasonal harvest needs of Australia’s horticultural industry.
NFF vice president and workplace relations committee chairman, Duncan Fraser, welcomed the government’s announcement but says more work is needed to increase the uptake of workers on Australian farms, not just horticulture.
According to NFF, about 22,000 fruit picking jobs “go begging” in Australia each year, while horticultural growers watch their produce rot at a cost of around $100,000 per crop per year.
Mr Fraser said the three year pilot scheme ends June 30 next year.
He would like it extended to include other nations, while extracting more from those already participating like Papua New Guinea, which is a potentially huge market with a population of about 7 million people.
He said it was important to improve the scheme by including new nations, without detraction from the progress made with those already participating.
Participating nations already include Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Under the pilot scheme, Pacific workers are employed in Australia for four to six months working on farmers in the horticulture industry during peak harvest periods.
Participating workers are mainly used for fruit and vegetable harvesting and tree pruning on almond orchids.
That includes picking hydroponic tomatoes at large greenhouses in northern NSW, picking apples at apple orchids at Manjimup in southern WA, or picking oranges at Griffith in NSW.
Farmers must demonstrate they can’t find enough local labour to meet the harvest requirement and a commitment to best practice in delivering on-farm skills, good working conditions and human resource management.
Farmers also pay the travel expenses of their Pacific Island employees.
In making the announcement, Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said the scheme had mutual benefits; boosting the workforce for Australian farmers and delivering economic benefits to participating Pacific countries, with workers remitting money back home.
“This will provide an important economic boost to communities in our Pacific neighbourhood and offer Australian producers an avenue to source workers, where seasonal demands outstrip the local supply of labour,” she said.
Mr Fraser said the scheme offered 2500 positions each year, with 560 Pacific Islander workers filling positions to date.
He said the Scheme’s growth potential was “limitless” while it was also extended to include a trial for tourism workers.
“We would be very interested to explore with government the possibility of extending the scheme into other areas within agriculture,” Mr Fraser said.
“We look forward to welcoming workers from the eight participating Pacific Islands to our horticulture farms during the next seasonal harvest.”
Mr Fraser said the expansion of additional nations provided him with encouragement that the government was looking to roll the pilot over into a “full blown scheme” after when it expires next year, but in doing so would bolster its resources to benefit farms in throughout Australia.
“As word of mouth gets around to horticulturalists about how well this scheme works the uptake will rise exponentially,” he said.
“We are very interested in exploring further opportunities with the government to extend the scheme within agriculture where there’s a need to fill demand for short term skilled workers and unskilled workers.”
Managing Director of Global Agriculture Recruitment and Training firm Positive Perfection, Stuart Austin, said extending the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme was “a good thing” but he warned more could be done to open visas and remove restrictions, to help fill gaps in the broader agricultural workforce.
“We are all trying to find more workers from wherever we can,” he said.
“The pitfalls are that our farmers have had good and bad experiences with overseas workers and so now only want “the best”.
“They all want the most experienced guy in Canada and they just aren’t out there.”
Mr Austin said the government could adopt a Working Holiday Visa program like Canada, opening entry to Australia for two years.
“They can work for as long as they like for one employer over that two years, then renew it as many times as they want until they are 31,” he said.
“Here (at the moment) they can only spend six months with one employer so they can only work half a season and then must prove they have done three months work to be able to apply for a second year.
“Very frustrating.”
Swan Hill orchardist, Gaye Tripodi, has employed 12 workers from Vanuatu under the Pacific Islander Scheme in the past and is hoping to employ 20 more this coming season.
Ms Tripodi said she was happy with the government’s announcement last week and says the pilot program is moving ahead nicely.
She said broadening the eligibility of other countries was a step in the right direction not only for the program but the horticultural industry and countries involved.
Her business produces stone fruit such as peaches, nectarines and plums while they have also produced grapes, melons and pistachio nuts.
But the inability to access seasonal workers has limited business turnover and its capacity to expand and capture opportunities.
Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme www.deewr.gov.au/pswps.
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