Pick fruit and slash uni fees: bold proposal to save agriculture
University students would be urged to have a gap year at home to pick fruit with a promise that HECS/HELP fees would be slashed as the Federal Government works to prevent farming disaster.
QLD News
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Aussie university students would be given a discount on their fees to travel the country picking fruit, to prevent it rotting on the vine, with the patriotic message “our country needs you”.
The agriculture and horticulture sectors are in crisis, with foreign backpackers normally used for fruit picking jobs fleeing the country to return home during the pandemic.
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The parliamentary inquiry into working holiday visas scheme on Tuesday handed down its interim report, with a key recommendation for a “gap year at home” campaign to be developed.
Inquiry chair Julian Leeser said while jobs in the city in hospitality and retail were drying up, young people finishing school, university and looking for a career break should consider travelling the country working in agriculture.
“The message to young people is, our country needs you,” he said. “Too often we see Berlin before we see Bundaberg.”
Mr Leeser said the interim report was recommending HECS/HELP discounts to incentivise you people to take up the work, as well as being paid to do the work and the adventure of seeing more of Australia.
It would be up to the Federal Government to decide if to proceed with the program, and how much of a discount it would offer.
Other recommendations included allowing people on JobSeeker continue to receive the welfare payments, while doing low-paid agricultural or horticultural work.
Opportunities for graduating international students to stay and do the work should also be considered, the report stated.
About 180,000 working holiday-maker visa holders are normally in Australia, but the number has dropped to just 70,000 now and is expected to continue to fall as Christmas approaches.
Mr Leeser said industry sources told the inquiry about 30,000 Australians took up holiday working visas in the UK and 9000 in Canada each year.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, who has previously floated a similar idea, said the government had been working through the problems since March.
“The government is also considering a number of domestic programs for Australians to participate in some of which are detailed in the report,” he said.
The Government already granted visa extensions for backpackers and made additional Pacific worker visas available to states to request.
Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said from September 25 people on JobSeeker would be able to earn up to $300 a fortnight, about 15 hours at minimum wage, without it impacting their payments.
Australian Fresh Produce Alliance has previously released modelling they commission which a shortage of fruit pickers could see the price of fruit and vegetables rise up to 60 per cent as supermarkets are forced to rely on imports.
