Less than 1 per cent of unemployed Victorians seek available farm work

There are almost 92,000 jobseekers but the state is still facing a dire farm labour shortage with fears fruit will be left to rot. So why have less than 1 per cent put their hand up for the work?

Backpackers, such as Agustin Charlone, are in increasingly short supply. Picture: Sue Graham

Less than 1 per cent of out-of-work Victorians have put their hand up to pick and pack fruit and vegetables, amid warnings of a dire shortage of harvest workers this summer.

New figures seen by The Weekly Times show there were 91,822 jobseekers registered with the Andrews Government’s Working for Victoria program with just 889 of those expressing interest in seasonal harvest work.

But industry is seeing signs that Australians are starting to heed calls to head out to the regions, as labour hire providers note an upward trend in inquiries from homegrown workers. 

The Weekly Times last week revealed more than 20,000 backpackers – usually relied upon for casual harvest work – left Australia between July and September, as horticulture producers predict a shortage of up to 26,000 workers by March.

The Working for Victoria scheme aims to match people unemployed following the coronavirus pandemic with jobs across the state.

Agriculture Victoria ran an expression of interest for harvest work last week, which saw 889 people – 666 from greater Melbourne – put their hand up; the department is now in the process of matching workers with jobs.

It’s understood there are currently 690 agricultural jobs registered through Working for Victoria, however thousands of extra roles are anticipated to have either not yet been registered or will come in the near future.

The situation is becoming increasingly time sensitive. Stone fruit and cherry growers began their harvests this month, and many other sectors will follow suit shortly. Table grapes begin in January and the industry alone requires 15,000 workers.

Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes said it was “incorrect” to say Victorians weren’t interested in agricultural work, or that farmers did not want to hire them, with berry and cherry growers already successfully using the state government program to find workers.

“There are many aspects of the job that influence jobseeker and employer decisions, such as relocation costs,” she said.

The Victorian Government has urged farmers to keep registering their jobs, and is offering incentives of up to $250 a day to help cover transport and accommodation costs.

There is not yet any data on how many people have taken up the Federal Government’s $6000 incentive to help cover the costs of moving for agricultural work, which began this month.

But new figures from the federal Department of Skills, Education and Employment show 870 Australians have been placed in harvest jobs since July, via the national harvest trail information service.

Madec, one of Australia’s biggest labour hire providers that also runs the Federal Government’s information service, says a longstanding trend where 80 per cent of calls to the service came from backpackers, had flipped in the past two months.

“We have seen an increase in Australian residents seeking horticultural opportunities. The numbers aren’t huge but it’s certainly an increase and compares with the decrease in working holiday makers calling. It’s been an interesting turn around,” Madec’s harvest trail information service manager Gavin Krake said.

Mr Krake said inquiries to the call centre from backpackers had fallen from more than 5000 a month in March to a couple of hundred a month in September and October; meanwhile inquiries from Australians had increased from about 200 a month to more than 800 a month for the same period.

The timing of the reversal in interest coincides with the reduction of JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments, which many horticultural sectors believed was stopping Australians from applying for harvest work.

Meanwhile the horticultural industry is in the process of recruiting about 600 overseas workers to be in Victoria for the restart of the seasonal worker program on December 1.

It is anticipated four 737 aircraft would be privately chartered with about 150 Pacific island workers on board who would be quarantined at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory.

The Victorian government has been asked whether it would subsidise $6000 of the $8000 cost of each workers’ quarantine stay, plus a $500 contribution to their flight.

Ms Symes did not provide any comment on finalising the seasonal worker program.

Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said Victoria had yet to approve quarantine arrangements, and that the Commonwealth had not provided financial support for overseas workers who had come in to other states.

“The Australian Government has been clear that the quarantine arrangements for workers coming in under the SWP and PLS programs would be the responsibility of state and territory governments,” he said.

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