Farmers Urge Guest-worker Pilot Scheme

The Age

Thursday June 5, 2008

Darren Gray and Ben Schneiders

UP TO 1000 Pacific Island guest workers would be working in Australian orchards and fields from September this year under a pilot scheme proposed by the National Farmers Federation to tackle agricultural labour shortages.

The workers would come on a new visa class and work in large horticulture operations at Swan Hill and Robinvale in Victoria, at Griffith in NSW, and at a major horticulture district in Queensland yet to be selected.

The federation recently presented a detailed plan to the Federal Government outlining the proposed trial, arguments for why parts of regional Australia should be included, and a review of a New Zealand seasonal guest-worker program.

The federation says there is a national shortfall of about 100,000 agricultural workers, and the horticulture sector alone needs 22,000 entry-level workers.

Plans for the federation's pilot scheme, obtained by The Age, outline a number of compliances for agricultural zones. The benchmarks include low unemployment; suitable infrastructure such as accommodation and transport; a local migration officer; a supportive local council; and multicultural demography.

The push for a guest-worker scheme will gain more momentum today in Fiji, when the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union expresses support for a pilot scheme as long as it protects pay and labour standards. In an address to the Pacific Islands Forum, Paul Howes will argue for a pilot guest-worker program to ease Australia's labour shortages and to boost Pacific economies.

Mr Howes will also tell the forum: "Australia is a wealthy nation being strangled by its own success, while our Pacific Island neighbours are simply trying to keep their heads above water.

"I think now is the time for the union movement to be proactively engaged on these issues," Mr Howes said.

Unless unions embrace guest-worker programs there would be increased pressure from illegal migration, as occurs in Europe and the US, which would make it "impossible" to regulate employment standards here, he said.

The AWU's position is likely to be contentious for parts of the labour movement. Former union boss Doug Cameron warned that guest-worker programs could lead to pressure on social cohesion.

The farmers federation says thousands of workers have left agriculture since the drought, and the labour shortfall is retarding regional economies, farm production and national economic growth.

Denita Wawn, federation general manager of workplace relations, said if the pilot was successful it would be expanded next year to 2000 to 3000 workers and 5000 or more workers in its third year. "Ultimately, we believe we could easily accommodate 10,000."

"The producers at the moment in Australia may be reliant on the backpackers and the grey nomads, but they won't stay the whole season and they certainly won't be coming back. And as a consequence, there's turnover costs and also the costs of constantly finding more labour," she said. The New Zealand scheme had been "enormously successful" and the workers exceptional, she said.