Pacific Island workers rescue OzGroup’s blueberry season in Coffs Harbour
With backpackers a rarity and locals unwilling to pick, the industry has turned to our Pacific Island neighbours who themselves have been rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Coffs Harbour
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coffs Harbour. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Facing a labour crisis, Coffs Coast farmers have turned to our Pacific Island neighbours in an effort to prevent millions of dollars worth of blueberry crops remaining unpicked.
For Daniel Wenau, Nettie Viranamanga and Rodman Vuti that crisis has led to an opportunity.
With their home country of Vanuatu almost entirely dependent on the tourism dollar, the pandemic meant they were forced out of their jobs and with no economic safety net available, they secured a place in Australia’s seasonal worker program.
They trio have spent the last two months picking blueberries for farmers in Coffs Harbour’s OzGroup cooperative.
Mr Wenau, who was driving a resort bus in the capital Port Vila when the pandemic struck, said the scheme could help them save enough capital to invest in a business, land or a house back home.
“We cannot rely on tourism anymore and in order to survive you have to have something to generate income,” Mr Wenau said.
“Coming here will help a lot especially with the capital – to find this kind of money we earn here it's quite hard back home.
“So far it has been good. At least we can buy food and send some money back home.”
It’s Ms Viranamanga’s third time picking on the Coffs Coast and she said her first two trips more than five years ago helped pay her children’s school fees.
“This is helping me a lot,” she said. “The difference I have seen this year … I have seen more (Pacific Island) workers now, there are lots more coming in.
“It’s helping here and helping the Vanuatu government also.”
Industry leader ‘really concerned’ about worker shortage
OzGroup chair Satpal Singh said the industry was “really concerned” about the workforce shortages this year after backpacker labour farmers are almost entirely reliant on had all but disappeared during the pandemic.
Emphasising the sheer scale of the issue, Mr Singh said there are usually about 160,000 backpackers in Australia but now it’s estimated there are less than 40,000.
The decision to participate in the seasonal workers scheme, which some farmers had done in years gone by, was already paying dividends and Mr Singh said it had a “two-way benefit”.
“It’s reciprocal, bringing people in to do unskilled labour work that nobody else wants to do is actually then benefiting the local economy by creating more full time jobs,” he said.
“I think there is a notion that when we bring these people in … that they are taking Australian jobs. I have been in the industry for roughly 20 years and I have found it very hard to approach local employees to come and pick blueberries.
“Just this seasonal worker program has added about 8 full time positions in our organisation that weren’t there before.”
Innovative ways to find workers
Australia’s multi-billion dollar agriculture industry has always found it hard to attract Australian’s to pick and pack fruit, with remuneration considered low and the work physically demanding, often involving long stints out in the elements.
While the federal government continues to focus on making it easier to source overseas labour, some local farmers have come up with unique ways to attract local pickers.
Last year Lismore agribusiness Mountain Blue reintroduced an incentive scheme which gave pickers a shot at winning part of a $50,000 prize pool through the course of the season.
The longer people stayed and the more fruit they harvested meant the more opportunity they had to share in the prizes.
The Federal Government this week introduced a brand new agriculture visa designed to assist labour-starved farmers secure workers long-term. The Agricultural Worker Visa will allow skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers from a range of countries work in a variety of industries.
Berries Australia chair Peter McPherson said the announcement was positive news for the $1.4 billion berry sector which was heavily reliant on manual pickers due to the soft fruit.
“A stream of dedicated workers who want to work in the sector is very welcome,” Mr McPherson said.
Report says worker exploitation rife
Work on Coffs Coast blueberry farms has not been with without controversy however, with a 2020 report claiming underpayment and labour exploitation was widespread within the industry.
Researchers who compiled the report on behalf of an alliance of unions found that some workers were paid equivalent to as little as $3 an hour through the use of ‘piece rates’. Piece rates are used throughout the agriculture industry and involve workers being paid according to the amount of produce picked.
The report also found that the rapid growth of the industry had led to an abundance of labour-hire firms who exploited people looking for short term work, particularly backpackers who are required to work 88 days on a farm in order to secure a second-year working holiday visa.
There have also been ongoing concerns about the impact of the region’s agriculture industry on the environment, particularly with regards to water. An investigation by the Natural Resource Access Regulator found there were high levels of noncompliance on Coffs Coast farms.
‘Grave crime:’ Man jailed over stabbing death in KFC car park
The young man who stabbed Canberra teen Lachlan ‘Lachie’ Andrews to death during a brawl at a Northern Rivers KFC has been sentenced to jail but could be out on parole as early as February. Here’s the sentence.
‘A lot of info’: Re-appeal’s positive results into Bowraville murders
Police have received ‘a lot of information’ from in and around Bowraville after re-appealing to the community for answers to three young lives cut short in the 1990s.