Help from the Pacific - Two more planes of Pacific workers planned, 160 Vanuatu workers leave quarantine today

There are plans to fly at least two more groups of Pacific Islander workers into WA to ease pressure on growers desperate for harvest labour, as more than 160 workers are set to leave quarantine for farms today. As of late this afternoon, more than 300 workers from Vanuatu will have been deployed to farms and agricultural operations across the State, from Mt Barker and Pemberton to Gingin and Harvey. Waroona grape grower Fruitico has employed 58 workers from the first group and will receive a further 43 today ahead of harvest, which is set to begin in three weeks time. They are the fifth crew of workers the grape grower it has employed through the Federal Government’s Seasonal Worker Program since Fruitico’s inception, chief executive Roger Fahl said. “Traditionally, the majority have been backpackers, so very little do you ever get back ... sometimes you get them back the second year. “Just to try and get a good stable workforce that was willing to come and do this style of work.” Initially Fruitoco — which Mr Fahl runs with his wife Liz, in partnership with Fresh Produce Group — was given a cap of 20 workers but with the crop’s expansion the cap was lifted to 150, which Mr Fahl soon hoped to double. “We want to take our caps out to 300 with all the planting we’re doing,” Mr Fahl said. “This year at harvest we need 300 people, so 150 is great but it’s still only 50 per cent of the workforce that we need and we still need to find 150 from somewhere else,” he said. After months of industry lobbying and harvest mere weeks away, Mr Fahl said the arrival of the Vanuatuan workers — about half of whom have worked on Australian farms in previous years — this month came as a huge relief. And while the quarantining process had brought with it additional costs, Mr Fahl said it was worth the investment. During harvest, Mr Fahl said productive workers could earn up to $40 an hour on piece rates, which they would send home for their families and communities. WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the Pacific Island workers had proven “absolutely critical” for the State’s horticultural industry. “Alongside our incentives for local workers — which have attracted more than 900 applications — our efforts to restart the Seasonal Worker Program is delivering much-needed support to our growers,” she said. The workers set to leave quarantine today will be picking strawberries in Mt Barker and Albany, almonds in Lancelin, carrots in Gingin, processing meat in Kojonup, Katanning and Narrogin and working in hospitality in Broome. VegetablesWA chief executive John Shannon said there had been increased interest from growers across the State wanting to access workers through the program, which he believed would be a “key solution” in addressing the State’s labour crisis. “Everyone’s very happy with the outcomes,” he said. “The workers are acclimatising and getting some really good feedback.”