Federal budget 2021: Long-term agriculture labour plan but no quick fix to worker shortages

Farmers are crying out for a solution to their workforce shortages — and the budget contains measures that may help longer term.

New measures are aimed at getting more Australians to consider agriculture as a career. Picture: Lachie Millard

Almost $30 million will go towards a longer-term strategy to grow agriculture’s workforce, including new initiatives to get school-leavers into the sector.

But there’s little to tackle the current workforce shortages in horticulture in tonight’s budget — and one measure could increase the competition for workers between agriculture and sectors such as hospitality and tourism.

NEW WORKFORCE FUNDING

Prior to tonight, the National Farmers’ Federation had been calling for a new apprentice-style qualification for agriculture that would ensure the training on offer met the needs of the sector, as well as a dedicated agriculture visa.

The visa call has — once again — gone unheeded, but the Government has announced several training measures including:

$10 million for a pilot program called AgUP to co-fund industry initiatives that build career pathways; and

$5.3 million for a pilot AgCAREERSTART program for school leavers to do work placements on farms.

Funding will also go toward researching community perceptions of agricultural work, and how to attract and retain staff, and $1 million for resources for employers to implement better workforce management.

Another $8.5 million will be used to improve the collection of agricultural labour force data, for which industry has been calling for greater investment.

VISA CHANGES

While the investment will likely be welcome, it will not address the current issues facing the sector, with workforce shortages estimated at 26,000 due to international travel bans in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Backpackers — usually relied upon for harvest work — have left Australia in droves, while states’ uptake of the seasonal worker program has been slow.

Competition for workers will potentially increase, however, after the Government tonight announced student visaholders will now be able to work more than 40 hours a week in the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Prior to this, international students were only allowed to exceed the 40-hour threshold if they worked in the “critical” sectors of agriculture, health and aged care.

The tourism industry had recently been pushing to be added to the critical sector list, in order to hire more temporary visaholders — a move agriculture warned would harm farmers’ ability to find and keep staff.

MORE

WHAT THE BUDGET DELIVERS FOR AGRICULTURE

WHAT REGIONAL AUSTRALIA GETS FROM THE BUDGET

MODEST AG BUDGET SPEND AS INDUSTRY CHASES $100B GOAL

Originally published as Federal budget 2021: Long-term agriculture labour plan but no quick fix to worker shortages