Coronavirus: Quarantine swap is pick of the crop

A deal will see seasonal workers from Pacific islands quarantined in Tasmania before travelling to Victoria in ­exchange for 330 overseas Tasmanians quarantining in Melbourne.

Tui Mac, from Vietnam, picks parsley at Boratto Farms near Bacchus Marsh in Victoria. Picture: Aaron Francis

A trans-Tasman trade will see seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands quarantined in Tasmania before travelling to Victoria in ­exchange for 330 overseas Tasmanians quarantining in Melbourne hotels.

The scheme will allow 1500 Pacific Islanders into Victoria, half of the state’s usual intake, and the arrivals staggered over two months with one planeload arriving in Tasmania each week.

The Victorian government and farmers will share the costs of the workers’ quarantine in Tasmania’s government-designated facilities.

Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the deal was an example of states working together to find “innovative solutions” to meet challenges in light of Scott Morrison’s prioritisation of returning Australians stranded overseas.

However, she said farmers and the federal government should look to Australian workers first and use foreign workers as supplementary labour.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said farmers would save money if they hired Australians instead of using foreign workers, but it was difficult for farmers to find Australians wanting to work on farms.

Ms Germano said the government needed to consult with industry to work out the details of the Tasman scheme, including how much it was going to cost farmers and where and when the workers would go.

The Pacific Islanders will complete their 14-day quarantine in Tasmania and fly to Victoria after a confirmed negative test for coronavirus. In return, Victoria will take on Tasmania’s share of getting overseas Australians home, and the repatriated Australians will undertake their 14-day quarantine in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system with the costs borne by the Tasmanian government.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said it was a good result for the state with the Tasmanian hotel quarantine program now able to focus solely on arrivals who represent a lower transmission risk.

“Dealing with high-risk Australians from overseas is not what we are set up for in Tasmania,” he said.

Vegetable and herb grower Rae McFarlane — who operates Boratto Farms at Bacchus Marsh, 50km northwest of Melbourne — harvested parsley earlier this week with permanent farm staff and office staff.

But without her usual trained seasonal workers from the Solomon Islands and Samoa, the parsley was being thrown away.

She said she hoped the second growth would be harvested properly by seasonal workers.

“We’re not the only farm that’s throwing away produce,’’ Ms McFarlane said.