Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Agriculture workforce

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (20:13): (2089) My adjournment is directed to the Minister for Agriculture, and it the concerns the required labour workforce for this year’s fruit harvest throughout my electorate. The action that I seek from the minister is for the minister to reveal what plans she has put in place, including what discussions she has had with the federal government, to ensure that Victoria’s horticultural industry has access to sufficient seasonal workers to harvest our valuable fruit and vegetables this coming harvest season.

Over the last two years Victoria’s horticultural industry has been severely impacted by the lack of seasonal harvest labour workers to pick the fruit and vegetables that feed Victorians, the rest of Australia and the world. The closure of the country’s borders due to the pandemic saw our horticulturalists unable to access or restricted in accessing their traditional workforce of Pacific Islanders, backpackers and working holiday-makers, causing a devastating harvest labour shortage. This resulted in farmers throughout Victoria, including the many horticulturalists in my electorate of Northern Victoria Region, losing millions of dollars due to fruit not being harvested at its premium. Industry warnings on the severe impact of labour shortages the last two seasons were ignored by the Andrews Labor government, who seem more focused on encouraging Victorians to work on farms rather than accessing an available workforce from overseas.

The 2022–23 harvest season will commence in northern Victoria’s horticultural industry with cherries in early November, and once again harvest labour shortages are the biggest concern for our horticulturalists. Victorian horticulturalists are looking at the current mango harvest season in the Northern Territory, where farmers are struggling to employ enough workers to pick and pack their produce. The Albanese Labor government has scrapped the agricultural visa program and has expanded the Pacific Australia labour mobility scheme, but the processing of applications to join the scheme will take at least three months.

Victoria’s horticulturalists need clarity and reassurance from the minister that the Andrews Labor government is standing up to its federal counterparts to ensure we have the workforce available to pick our valuable produce. The Andrews Labor government have failed to address labour shortages in Victoria’s horticultural industry over the last two years, and the minister needs to provide clarity on her plans to ensure that Victorian growers have the workforce needed to harvest their produce. This year, with the shortage of workers in all areas, this is going to be even more challenging for our horticulturalists, who will not be able to access local labour as there is such a shortage of that for all industries in Victoria.