MEMBER for Mallee Dr Anne Webster is urging growers to secure and stabilise their workforce under the new Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement (HILA).
The agreement, which was announced by the federal government last month, allows farmers to sponsor migrant workers under the temporary skill shortage visa for a total of 31 approved occupations and for permanent residency.
Dr Webster said HILA was the second piece of the puzzle, following a $20 million investment in the Regional Agriculture Migration Program last year.
She said the idea behind the agreement was to give growers an opportunity to sponsor migrant workers who they wanted to keep on by offering them permanent residency.
“This is a great deal for horticulture,” Dr Webster said.
“It provides pathways to permanency and additional concessions such as additional occupations, which aren’t on the skilled occupations list and are often connected to permanent residency.
“We have been told by the horticulture industry these workers are extremely important because we don’t have the local workforce — as our unemployment rate isn’t very high.
“Consequently, we have a gap in this harvest’s seasonal workforce, which needs to be filled because we have harvest that needs to come off.
“If it wasn’t filled it would put the industry at risk — it is really, really important we have these workers.”
AUSVEG national public affairs manager Tyson Cattle said AUSVEG had consulted a range of horticulture bodies as well as migration agents, growers and other stakeholders, before applying for the HILA.
He said the peak industry body wanted to make sure the HILA was as comprehensive as possible for the entire horticulture industry.
“Growers from around the country raised issues with accessing a workforce for the 31 skilled occupations listed,” Mr Cattle said.
“Management support and technical expertise were areas growers around the country, including the Sunraysia, said they needed a workforce for.
“The HILA should be able to help with that.”
Mr Cattle said the agreement was an important piece of the horticulture puzzle, however it was not a “silver bullet” for growers and there was a significant shortage of labour in picking and packing roles.
“We included those occupations in our submission for the HILA and advocated hard for them, but were unsuccessful,” he said.
“We will continue to look for solutions for growers to that issue.
“This HILA also has a 12-month review built into the agreement, so as growers utilise the agreement, we want their feedback on what worked and what didn’t work, so we can work with government to refine and improve it.”
