Australia’s trial guest worker scheme will become permanent from 1 July next year, the country’s Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten announced yesterday.
The permanent scheme follows on from the successful three-year Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme, which saw workers from East Timor and the Pacific Islands brought in to do seasonal horticultural work for growers who had difficulty sourcing local employees.
The trial programme was modelled on New Zealand’s guest worker scheme, which has been praised by that country’s horticultural industry, and emphasises the return of the same workers to growers in successive seasons to preserve and develop skills.
“Australian employers in the horticulture sector unable to source enough local Australian workers will now be able to access a reliable, returning seasonal workforce,” Minister Shorten stated.
“Employers will now have certainty at harvest time and seasonal workers will be able to improve their skills and have a level of financial security.”
Australia’s horticulture industry has welcomed the announcement of the programme’s permanence.
“This year hundreds of Pacific seasonal workers have been used by citrus growers throughout Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia to harvest a bumper crop. All the growers who participated were extremely happy with the scheme and were planning for increased numbers of labourers in 2012,” said Judith Damiani, CEO of peak industry body Citrus Australia.
“Growers who have used the scheme have been very happy having a stable workforce who are able to return season after season, unlike working holiday makers who can only work for up to 12 months in Australia,” added Alex Livingstone, CEO of Queensland peak horticulture body Growcom.
The guest worker scheme covers workers from East Timor, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
