FARMERS remain in the dark and are at risk of breaching workplace relations requirements as uncertainty surrounding obligations under the vaccination mandate for agricultural workers continues.
Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) president Emma Germano said the mandate for authorised workers, including agricultural workers, to be single-dose vaccinated by October 15 did not address farmers’ concerns regarding how to uphold workplace relations requirements should an employee present without a vaccination.
“(The issue) is not about whether or not the mandate is right or wrong,” Ms Germano said.
“We support vaccinations – we’ve done everything to try and encourage vaccinations and get access to it.
“It’s about workplace relations, and our OH&S responsibilities and the legalities of being an employer and making sure that you navigate that correctly.”
Ms Germano said the VFF were focused on communicating to farmers that if they have a worker who “needs standing down”, instead of terminating their employment they should be prohibited from physically entering the workplace.
While authorised workers have until November 26 to be double-vaccinated, Ms Germano said farmers remained unsure about what rights they had to use unvaccinated workers as part of emergency circumstances provisions laid out in the vaccine mandate.
“Section 7D of the directions talks about … (undertaking) essential or urgent work to maintain an asset,” she said.
“So we were saying (to the State Government), ‘Well, OK, my crop is my asset – if I can’t find vaccinated workers to go and pick it, and I know that I’ve got to pick my oranges today … does that mean I’m allowed to use unvaccinated workers?’
“And the response to that question is businesses are going to have to demonstrate the reasonable steps that (they) took to ensure that it was a vaccinated worker who did that.
“And if not, why not?
“You’re not going to get a legal ruling until there has to be a legal ruling.”
Ms Germano said an absence of clarity regarding what could be considered “reasonable” steps compounded an already “stressful” time for farmers who, and on the eve of harvest, faced potential worker shortages.
“We’re literally on the eve of harvest. We’ve been saying that we’ve got a critical workforce shortage.
“There are plenty of transient agricultural workers who have said, ‘I’ve had enough of Victoria, I’m out of here, and I’m going someplace else’.”
Ms Germano said the current uncertainty regarding vaccination could affect food security and produce supply-chain problems moving forward.
“People have already got enough on their plate just trying to run their ordinary business.
“Agriculture doesn’t turn around on a dime, because you’ve got the time that it takes for crops to grow, and you’ve got to order seedlings, and you’ve got to buy in stock.
“What I’m hearing is that people are starting to scale down.
“There are lots of people that are making those kind of considerations at the moment, particularly short crops – your zucchinis, your veg lines.
“Many people are just like, ‘Well, we’ll just order a little bit less this season and just see how it all transpires’.”
