Farmers question lack of invite to Mark McGowan’s WA skills summit

A leading advocate for WA’s grains sector has accused the State Government of overlooking farmers in its forthcoming skills summit. WAFarmers grains section president Mic Fels said businesses in the sector were buckling under the weight of a skilled workers shortage, just months out from what is forecast to be one of the biggest grain harvests on record. Mr Fels claims his organisation was not on an initial invite list for the June 30 summit, convened by Premier Mark McGowan. Pastoralists and Graziers’ Association president Tony Seabrook said his organisation also had not received an invite. Mr Fels said a representative for the State Government said the industry group was emailed an invite but he maintains it had not arrived. WA Farmers head Trevor Whittington received an invite on Monday, following media inquiries to the Government. “There’s an ambivalence from the Government on rural areas and agriculture in particular, clearly, as we were not initially included,” Mr Fels said. A Government spokesman said the farm sector would be well represented from leaders from WAFarmers, the Farm Machinery and Industry Association of WA, the Livestock and Rural Transport Association of WA and CBH Group. This year farmers have planted a record 8.61 million hectares of grain and are on track for a bumper harvest following excellent rainfall in recent months. But Mr Fels said WA only had about a quarter of the workers needed to drive heavy machinery come harvest time, which starts late October. The other 75 per cent would normally come from overseas, predominantly Europe but also the US, Canada and New Zealdand. WAFarmers has been lobbying for the safe opening of borders to bring in workers from the northern hemisphere. “Most farmers love harvest, it’s stressful, hard and exhausting but we love it and usually can’t wait. This year there’s a sense of dread about how we will cope,” Mr Fels said. “We are worried about workplace injuries and potential deaths. These are real concerns when you have inexperienced people, or fatigued people, operating heavy machinery.” Nationals WA agriculture spokesman Colin de Grussa said finding appropriately skilled labour was a big issue in rural WA and it was vital the farming industry was part of the conversation.