Albanese Government’s migration strategy ‘won’t solve workforce woes’: National Farmers Federation

Australia’s peak farm body has warned the Albanese Government’s new migration strategy won’t fix chronic labour shortages in the sector and could encourage opportunistic workers to “leave farmers in the lurch” during harvest. Federal Labor this week unveiled its long-awaited plan to fix the nation’s migration system after a major review found it was “broken” and not geared to Australia’s current or future needs. But National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke said the strategy lacked the dedicated agricultural visa farmers had desperately been calling for since Labor scrapped the fledgling Ag Visa program after taking power last year. “There are some wins in the strategy, such as prioritising regional visa processing, streamlining applications and processing, and greater stakeholder engagement to get workers where they’re needed,” Mr Jochinke said. However, he said the agriculture sector had serious concerns about the strategy’s worker mobility component. “Bringing in a migrant worker is a major investment for a small business,” Mr Jochinke said. “We don’t want workers taking advantage of an employer, using this as a ticket into Australia, then leaving a farmer in the lurch in the middle of harvest and out of pocket thousands of dollars.” The strategy also flagged a rethink of the country’s Working Holiday Maker program as part of sweeping changes to migration settings. An independent review of the migration system earlier this year recommended binning the current system that allows backpackers to extend their stay in Australia after 12 months, in exchange for working in the bush. In its response to the review, the Commonwealth confirmed it would “undertake a detailed consultation and research process” into the existing visa available to backpackers. Mr Jochinke said the NFF would engage in the review but warned against a further phase out of the regional work extension for backpackers. “We’ve already seen this requirement removed for British backpackers from July 2024, while the Government increased visa charges for working holiday makers by 25 per cent this year,” he said. “Bit by bit our options are being eroded. Backpackers are an important workforce for agriculture and by closing this door without any alternatives, farmers will struggle to access the workers they need.” Farming and community leaders in WA’s Lower South West have also expressed concerns any reduction in backpackers would “significantly impact” the region’s ability to harvest and pack produce. Manjimup shire president Donelle Buegge said limiting backpackers from extending their stay would hurt farms and flow across the local economy. “It would be terrible. When our harvest takes place, it’s such a condensed time and we need them (backpackers) here in force in that period of time,” she said. “We’re really reliant on that employment.” Former farmer and Manjimup Shire councillor Paul Omodei said the Government should be looking at modifying migration policies to help industry rather than abandoning what had worked. “The agricultural and horticultural industries would be significantly impacted if changes were made to the programs,” he said. “It needs refining but I wouldn’t chuck the policy out; it would damage the industry in regional Australia, especially WA.” Avocado Collective manager Joshua Franceschi said the move would increase training costs for farmers. “You might get people who might do a couple of weeks before phasing out and heading off somewhere else,” he said. “There’s training and inductions that go into it, and the costs from that get spread throughout their time working on the farms.”