Daniel Andrews dismisses criticism of seasonal workers

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Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has denied claims he is not doing enough to address the perceived shortage of farm workers in the state.

Victorian-era Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has denied claims he is not doing enough to address the state’s perceived shortage of farm workers, as some farmers fear they will have to plow their crops this season.

It comes after Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud this week accused some states of failing to honor their foreign worker quarantine agreements.

State governments have been urged to investigate safe ways to bring in workers, including on-farm or in-country quarantine programs.

“We just hope that states will act with a level of maturity and opportunity,” Mr. Littleproud said.

“Premiers and Premiers have all been adamant that they want to own the farm worker quarantine, in addition to their caps.

“Some of these states have the capacity to take some of these workers even as part of their hotel arrangements at the moment. “

Mr Andrews on Tuesday denied that his state has unlimited capacity to quarantine workers.

“Like, that’s fantasy,” he said.

“I say to Minister Littleproud, if you know of an unlimited quarantine facility anywhere, please let me know and we’ll be sure to use it. Otherwise, this kind of demagoguery brings nothing, nothing at all.

Leading industry groups and farm leaders have called for an urgent extension of the quarantine agreement between Victoria and Tasmania to allow Pacific Island workers to do essential work on Victorian farms.

The arrangement has been capped at 1,500 workers, but there is now pressure for more workers to cover the next harvest period.

But the industry is now worried that the delay in quarantine agreements is creating a backlog of flights and putting pressure on the industry.

The federal government announced plans for the agricultural visa in June as part of the UK free trade agreement.

It was confirmed today that the visa program will open on September 21 and will be ‘demand driven’, so will not be capped and will not impact the international arrival caps of returning Australians. them.

The government predicts that the number of Pacific and Timorese workers in Australia will double to more than 24,000 under the program.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, all workers will need to be quarantined, which adds further constraints on bringing in workers from the Pacific.

Victoria’s shadow Minister of Agriculture Peter Walsh said the federal government had worked quickly to do its part, leaving Victoria no reason to delay further announcing its plan to bring farm workers into the country. the state.

He said the issue was of deep concern, as the state neared its peak demand in October.

“Daniel Andrews and his Minister of Agriculture have done nothing to secure workers to address the issues that once again leave our grain farmers, woolen producers, meat processors, fruit and vegetable producers at risk of losing crops an entire season, ”Mr. Walsh said.

“We have now entered this crisis for over a year and the labor shortage once again leaves our farmers with an uncertain future. “

Mr Andrews said on Tuesday that testing clinics should be set up in countries where the workers were based.

“We talked about all of these things; it’s not just about issuing visas and managing two state governments that are apparently in charge of quarantine, ”he said.

“There are a lot of islands in the Pacific that if only they had a slightly higher test rate, they would be green countries and we could have a bubble with them and people could move here without having to be quarantined. .

“Community tests are not high enough. “

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