Australia’s vegetable peak industry body Ausveg would like to see the country’s Seasonal Worker Program expanded to include workers from South East Asian countries in order to ease labour shortages in the horticultural sector.
“Ausveg strongly back calls this morning from farmers in the north of Australia for the Federal Government to consider expanding the Seasonal Worker Program to include South East Asian countries such as Thailand and Vietnam,” said Ausveg public affairs manager William Churchill in a statement released today.
“Labour shortages are not just an issue for the north of the country, but something many Australian growers grapple with. We would back any initiatives that make it easier for Australian growers to source the necessary workforce to get the job done.”
The programme allows workers from Pacific Island nations including Timor-Leste and Nauru to undertake horticultural work for 14 weeks to six months in Australia, but only if growers can’t source enough local workers.
The Northern Territory Vietnamese Horticultural Association, representing Vietnamese families working in the Top End, told ABC Rural it has serious concerns over the lack of workers during peak times and would embrace changes to the Seasonal Worker Program, set up in July 2012 after a three-year trial.
Ausveg has also called for an expansion to the Working Holiday Visa to include more countries in its programme, such as Israel and Czech Republic, allowing farmers to rely on more backpackers for seasonal work.
Northern Territory grower Ian Quinn told ABC Rural that recent changes to the Working Holiday Visa have meant backpackers can rely on hospitality work close to major cities instead of seeking rural farm placements in order to extend their visas for a second year.
'This year we've had very few enquires for work and we're very concerned as to where the labour is going to come from,' said Quinn.
