THE Nationals claim grocery prices will rise as a result of the “forced unionisation” of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme.
The Federal Government said the changes were about improving workers’ conditions, but Member for Mallee Anne Webster said farmers and businesses were already looking to opt out.
“Anyone who knows anything about horticulture knows that is simply not going to work,” Dr Webster said.
“If farmers have to pay workers more than they’re actually able to get for their food to go to the market, it’s just unviable.
“The only thing that can happen is prices go up, so it’s going to impact every family who are already seriously struggling with cost-of-living issues.”
Nationals leader David Littleproud labelled the new rules “near-impossible”.
“New rules and increased costs on our farmers created by Labor will result in increased costs on food for families,” Mr Littleproud said.
“The PALM scheme has the potential of just 42,000 workers. It is now becoming even more unattractive for farmers to sign up to the PALM scheme.”
PALM worker numbers increased from 24,500 in May 2022 to 38,180 in April this year.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the changes would make a huge difference for those workers, who might otherwise have been mistreated.
“Central to this scheme’s success is that workers have a good experience of living and working here,” he said.
Mr Burke said the government was committed to improving the PALM scheme.
“Workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste send home valuable remittances, and build skills and experience in key sectors, making a significant contribution to economic development in their countries,” he said.
Another change the government will introudce on July 1 is an increase of the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT), from $53,900 to $70,000.
Dr Webster said the government needed to cater for everybody’s needs, including farmers and small businesses.
“Nobody wants to see anyone exploited, but this new unionised migration, and the new TSMIT that was pushed forward by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Grattan Institute alone has been questioned, seriously questioned, and so they should be,” Dr Webster said.
“I’ve got businesses now who are saying ‘well I’m going to have to close my doors, I can’t afford to pay these people’.”
