Peter Gleeson: Queensland Health needs to resolve COVID travel restrictions on South Pacific Island nations

Get ready to soon pay $30 a kilogram for tomatoes unless Queensland Health gets its act together and resolves COVID-19 travel restrictions, writes Peter Gleeson.

Get ready to soon pay $30 a kilogram for tomatoes unless Queensland Health gets its act together and helps resolve COVID-19 travel restrictions on South Pacific Island nations.

That’s the dire warning from Bowen fruit and vegetable growers, who are predicting a massive shortfall in their picker numbers heading into winter.

In 2020, there were 140,000 overseas backpackers in Australia but the 2021 number is predicted to be about 40,000.

Queensland fruit and vegetable growers are warning prices could skyrocket due to a massive shortfall in picker numbers. Picture: Andy Rogers

Bowen alone requires 3500 backpackers each year to harvest the annual horticultural haul, which has a net economic impact of $400 million on the North Queensland economy.

The problem for consumers is that if this labour shortage isn’t resolved, they will bear the brunt of the added cost of picking the fruit.

The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, which has an unemployment rate of 70 per cent, provides a large slice of the annual vegetable picking labour force in north Queensland.

The Bowen Chamber of Commerce has developed plans to quarantine these workers to satisfy Queensland Health protocols.

Could we soon be paying $30 for a kilogram of tomatoes?

However, the chamber says they are continually unable to speak with bureaucrats within Queensland Health to resolve the issue.

Chamber president Bruce Hedditch says it’s now a crisis.

“Farmers are even contemplating not even planting crops in 2021,’’ he said.

“We know Victoria has received a large number of Pacific Islanders to work on their farms and this has been achieved through an agreement with the Tasmanian Government, where workers undertook 14-day quarantine periods in that state.

“We can’t get answers here. It’s insane. The price of a kilo of tomatoes will go up to $30-$50 unless this is sorted out.’’

As I said in last week’s column, the $21.7 billion Queensland department of health is the worst and most bloated bureaucracy in the country.

Get off your backsides and do your job. Help Bowen agricultural producers find the labour they need to run a business.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath needs to resign today or get people into that department that can do their job properly.