Senator Sam McMahon lashes out at Chief Minister Michael Gunner over NT seasonal worker woes

SENATOR Sam McMahon has accused Chief Minister Michael­ Gunner of putting the Northern Territory’s mango harvest in jeopardy this year by refusing to allow seasonal workers to quarantine on farms.

• 2020/21 Australian mango season officially gets under way
• Vanuatu mango pickers get out of quarantine and straight down to saving Top End crops
• Seasonal workers arrive from Vanuatu to help fill Top End fruit picking jobs
• Critical mango workers set to arrive in the NT from Vanuatu within days after significant hurdles cleared

SENATOR Sam McMahon has accused Chief Minister Michael­ Gunner of putting the Northern Territory’s mango harvest in jeopardy this year by refusing to allow seasonal workers to quarantine on farms.

The CLP senator said the Territory mango industry was at risk of having more than $50m of mangoes left to rot on the ground due to an ongoing worker shortage.

Senator McMahon has blamed the NT government for the crisis because she claims it has refused to lift quarantine restrictions for fruit pickers travelling from overseas and interstate. “Some of our NT mango producers have very good facilities that are suited for on-farm quarantine,” she said.

“This would allow these workers to harvest the crop while undergoing quarantine, yet Michael Gunner is blocking this as an option.”

The Chief Minister said the quarantine arrangements for international arrivals was not his decision to make.

Annie Kintor, Charline Lolting and Bill Frazer Alling are among the seasonal workers from Vanuatu who were released from quarantine last month and are now picking mangoes on NT farms. Picture: Che Chorley

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Mr Gunner said the responsibility lay with the federal government, national cabinet and Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.

“I’ve spoken to the Prime Minister in the past about seasonal­ workers … and said ‘PM, I don’t want to get into your space and your decision-making areas’,” he said.

Between 2000 and 2500 mango pickers from regions including the Asia-Pacific normal­ly come to the Territ­ory each year.

Earlier this year, 162 seasonal workers from Vanuatu arrived in the Territory to help with the mango harvest, but delays in Vanuatu have meant that a second plane of workers bound for Darwin is not due to arrive until next week.

NT Farmers chief executive Paul Burke said he originally hoped to see the charter flight arrive on Saturday, but it had run into a few more delays.

“At this stage, we’re hoping they’ll be here by Monday or Tuesday,” he said.

The new Vanuatu arrivals will then spend 14 days in quarantine at the Howard Springs facility, a cost that will be covered­ by the industry.

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Senator McMahon said she was worried that by the time the Vanuatu workers were released from quarantine, it would be too late, and that many mango crops would by then have perished.

Mr Gunner encouraged her to engage with the federal government:

“I’m not sure why they aren’t positively engaging with each other about these issues­,” he said.