General News
1 September, 2021
Visa move a great step
By ANNE WESBTERAUGUST 22 was a monumental day for Australian agriculture. It was a great day for broad-acre farmers, for dairy farmers, and for growers of fresh produce in horticulture and agriculture. It was a great day because the Liberal National...
By ANNE WESBTER
AUGUST 22 was a monumental day for Australian agriculture.
Itwas a great day for broad-acre farmers, for dairy farmers, and for growers of fresh producein horticulture and agriculture. Itwasa great day because theLiberal NationalGovernmentdelivered a history making Agriculture visa.
The Nationals have beenadvocatingfor an Agriculture visa foryears. Wehavelistened to ourprimaryproducers and have now delivered on what has been requested the country over.
This visa is about providing a long-term, reliable workforce for our critical industries, while solving one of the greatest challengesfacingfood and fibreproduction inregional Australia. It’s about structural change,whichwill give primary producers the confidence to grow into the future.The visa will be in placebySeptember 30, with full implementation within three years.
The visa will be demand driven. In other words, there will be nolimitation on the number of workersbrought in.Australiawillwelcomeas many workers as is needed.Importantly, it will be available to skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers, from a range of countries.
The Ag visawillprovide workersformeat processing, fisheriesand forestry sectors, andundergird and secure thegrowth of our primary industries.
Since being elected to Parliament, I have worked closely with primary producers in Mallee.
Itbecamequicklyapparentthat a sustainable solution for workforce challenges was urgently needed.
I’ve spoken with producers in citrus, table grapes, stone fruit, almonds,dried fruits,carrots,meat processing, and broad acre crops– all in the Mallee. These industries are unique, and the challenges they face arevaried.
Citrus and stonefruit producers need a greatnumberof workers toharvestthe fruit offthe tree,whereas broadacre farmers need skilled workers to operate complex machinery.The visa is solutions focused andcan be tailored to solve these differing challenges.
I’mexcited aboutthe visaannouncement because it reflects theculmination of abody of work undertakenby the Nationalsforseveralyears.
The implementation of an agriculture visa was a key recommendation of the Inquiry into growing Australian Agriculture to $100 billion by 2030, completed by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources,of which I am a member.
It was also a recommendation of my personal seasonal workforce Policy that I developed after significant collaboration withlocalindustries.
Not only will this visa help growers,but it will alsohelptheworkers too. It will reduce exploitation inagriculturalindustries because it creates a legal avenue through which farmers can more easily access the workers theydesperatelyneed. The visa will also have the right protections in place to ensure that exploitation does not occur under the new program.
The Commonwealth is also working with state and territory partners on options fornational labour hire licencing to stamp out illegal behaviour.
The workforce shortages in our agriculture sector are real and they are urgent.Unfortunately, state and territory quarantine capacity remains the key constraint to bringing workers into the country.
At the beginning of the pandemic, National Cabinetagreed state governments would manage the quarantine of international arrivals. It is imperative states and territories do much more to support their agriculture sectors by developing quarantine solutions in time for the implementation of the new visa.
* Dr Webster is the member for Mallee