Farm labour's slim pickings are over
Stapleton, John.
The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 18 Aug 2008: 15.
Abstract
"Everyone in this district has been caught where they've had to leave fruit on the trees. You spend 12 months to get to the picking stage, and all of a sudden you've lost it. Financially it is a huge blow."
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the pilot program was not a move to cheap labour but a solution to chronic shortages in the bush. "For too long ... farmers have become sick to death of watching their own fruit rotting on the vine because they couldn't get a worker there to pick the fruit," he said.
Many in the farming constituency are critical of the Liberals for not acting sooner on the rural labor shortage. "The Liberals had their chance, this has been in the pipeline for years," said Gay Tripodi, who runs Murrawee Farms in Swan Hill and has been helping to co-ordinate the trial.
Full Text
"It was perfectly good fruit," the 51-year-old stonefruit farmer from Swan Hill in northwestern Victoria said yesterday.
"Everyone in this district has been caught where they've had to leave fruit on the trees. You spend 12 months to get to the picking stage, and all of a sudden you've lost it. Financially it is a huge blow."
In many rural communities, labour has become a scarce commodity. But yesterday a new and potentially plentiful source of workers became available, with the Rudd Government announcing a three-year trial to bring in 2500 Pacific Islanders, with hopes of rapidly increasing the number to 25,000.
Mr Maiuto -- who will employ 20 workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea -- joined other farmers and their representatives in expressing approval for the move.
Like many farmers, who tend to vote conservative, Mr Maiuto has found himself surprised to beapplauding a Labor government for making a move he regards as long overdue for rural Australia.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the pilot program was not a move to cheap labour but a solution to chronic shortages in the bush. "For too long ... farmers have become sick to death of watching their own fruit rotting on the vine because they couldn't get a worker there to pick the fruit," he said.
"The scheme does not allow for there to be any reduction in wages. In fact, for employers it will be marginally more expensive to access this scheme than it would have been had Australian workers been available." The first group will arrive later this year, with the program to be reviewed in 18 months.
Regions being considered for the scheme include Swan Hill, and Griffith in southern NSW with labour market surveys being conducted in other regions.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb warned the scheme was fraught with risk coming at a time of rising unemployment and could cost Australians jobs.
He blasted Kevin Rudd for not consulting with Australians before announcing the scheme, details of which will be formally unveiled this week at the Pacific Leaders Forum in Niue. The Horticulture Australia Council and Growcom from Queensland were shocked to find the announcement being made without their presence.
However, many in the farming constituency are critical of the Liberals for not acting sooner on the rural labor shortage. "The Liberals had their chance, this has been in the pipeline for years," said Gay Tripodi, who runs Murrawee Farms in Swan Hill and has been helping to co-ordinate the trial.
"There has been a desperate, blaring need for seasonal staff in the horticultural industry.
In Swan Hill, if every unemployed person was employed in horticulture, we would still be 300 jobs short."
Other attempts to address the shortage have been unsuccessful. The Howard government's solution of using backpackers on the harvest trail largely failed, with farmers complaining bitterly that they were unreliable and never stayed for long.
The National Farmers Federation welcomed the Pacific Island worker scheme, with vice-president Charles Burke saying there were benefits for all concerned.
"As a labour-intensive sector, horticulture's future depends on a reliable seasonal workforce, and unprecedented growth is in the offing," he said.
Manjula Luthria, senior economist for the Pacific region with the World Bank, said the scheme was the best possible way of instilling economic and social stability into struggling island nations.
Under the scheme, participating employers will pay half of the return airfares and cover establishment and pastoral care costs involved in bringing Pacific Islanders to Australia.
Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said while he acknowledged the Australian agricultural sector was suffering a labour shortage, the Government must ensure the scheme was regulated to protect workers from unscrupulous employers.
Credit: John Stapleton, Mark Dodd
No comments:
Post a Comment