Yarra Valley farmers and growers concerned with new Labour Hire Authority laws
Yarra Valley farmers fear they could be left in the lurch this picking season with the tightening of labour hire laws raising concerns of being caught short.
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Yarra Valley farmers fear they could be left in the lurch this picking season with the tightening of the labour hire laws raising concerns of being caught short handed.
Farmers claim they could be left scrambling to find people to help pick their crops if the labour hire companies they have employed are denied a licence.
In 2015, the State Government launched an independent inquiry into Victoria’s labour hire industry, which found there were numerous cases of exploitation.
The findings from the inquiry led to the Labour Hire Licensing Scheme, which comes into effect tomorrow.
The State Government said businesses would have a grace period of 28 days to find more help if their labour provider was knocked back.
However some farmers claim the Government told them there would be no grace period.
The Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader spoke to a grower in the region, who did not want to be named, who said the process had not been clear and was arduous and confusing with potentially hazardous financial implications.
The grower said the onus was on business owners to check the Labour Hire Authority website daily to see if their provider had been approved or not.
He said the list was on an excel spreadsheet, ranked by the date the provider applied and was not user-friendly or workable on a mobile device – only by a desktop computer.
This means small business farmers and growers who are out in the paddock and have no administration staff, have to take time out of their working day to sit at the computer rather than being able to work in the field and search on their phones.
“We’re all doing our best to comply but we’re facing the Berlin Wall of bullshit when you call up and try and get any information out of them,” he said.
“Things don’t stop growing and if we have to stop because of a bureaucratic decision it could take us more than two weeks, and they’ll (the provider) will have to find staff and it all takes time.”
He said it was already difficult to find labour and if a provider was denied a licence mid-season, “you’d be completely stuffed”.
“The fines for noncompliance for providers and businesses are huge – $500,000,” he said.
“You’d lose your farm if you got that sort of fine.”
“It could have potentially devastating effects on agricultural businesses in particular because it’s critical for us.”
Evelyn state Liberal MP Bridget Vallence said the State Government was behind in processing applications, having only dealt with 100 with a backlog of 1600.
“Farmers are increasingly worried they will not be able to source labour as we enter a very busy time, with a potentially devastating impact to their business,” Ms Vallence said.
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In Parliament on October 17, Ms Vallence called on Industrial Relations state Labor MP Tim Pallas to urgently address the backlog of applications and introduce a grace period to ensure farming businesses were protected from unfair penalties.
But Mr Pallas said the scheme would make one of the biggest changes to the labour hire industry and protect workers and their right to a fair day’s pay.
“There’s been a strong response from businesses over the past six months as we implement the scheme and the authority will continue to work progressively through applications,” Mr Pallas said.
“Any provider that has applied for a licence by October 30 can operate as usual.”