It’s a simple plea from our farmers, but to date it’s fallen on deaf ears.
Gippsland celery grower Matthew Busch is just one of many facing the loss of this year’s harvest if the Andrews Government doesn’t get a plan in place to get farm workers into Victoria.
A vegetable farmer at Yarrawonga says without a workforce, he’ll plough 540,000 leeks into the ground, along with a crop of baby spinach.
And down on the Mornington Peninsula, one vegetable grower’s usual picking workforce is sitting in Vanuatu ready and waiting to get on-farm. Lettuce will be ready to harvest in the next five to six weeks, but without those 20 workers the crop won’t be picked in time and will go to waste.
Victorian farmers across the board — from horticulture to grains, livestock and meat processing — are staring down the barrel of a worsening worker shortage that’s threatening to flush a year’s hard work down the drain.
Livelihoods are at stake, but Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas is nowhere to be seen.
It’s a slap in the face for the people who dedicate their lives to feeding and clothing our nation.
We recently discovered that Premier Daniel Andrews has been arrogantly refusing to sign off on a deal that will get the ball rolling to fill vacancies in the agriculture workforce.
An extension to Victoria’s seasonal worker deal with Tasmania — which will have delivered just 1500 workers into the state by October — has been sitting on the Premier’s desk for more than three weeks now.
Dan fails to understand — the crops won’t wait. There’s only a short time frame to get produce out of the ground and onto supermarket shelves.
Recently the Federal Government confirmed a special agriculture visa to streamline entry into Australia will open by the end of September.
As has been the case since National Cabinet agreed to it in March 2020, state and territory governments will be responsible for quarantine arrangements.
There are 430 people in the Pacific Islands with approved visas who are ready and waiting to jump on a plane to work on local farms.
Extending the deal with Tasmania is only part of the solution — the initial 1500 seasonal workers are just a drop in the ocean compared to what’s actually needed to end the uncertainty for our primary producers.
There are an estimated 15,000 workers needed in horticulture alone, not to mention the worsening shortage for our grain growers, meat processors and livestock producers.
Daniel Andrews and his agriculture minister have had more than 12 months to find a solution to get workers on-farm but they still have no plan out of this mess.
For our farmers, it’s past the 11th hour — it’s a minute to midnight.
The Andrews Government must immediately sign off on the extension of the deal with Tasmania so farmers can get the workers they need.
Premier, our farmers need hope.
Our agriculture sector needs a plan.
Livelihoods are at stake.
– Peter Walsh
State Member for Murray Plains and Victorian Nationals leader
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