Australian Workers Union muddying waters over agriculture visa, says David Littleproud

David Littleproud has blamed the Australian Workers Union’s campaign against the agriculture visa for ­delays in finalising bilateral agreements for the migrant farm worker scheme.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud. Picture: Gary Ramage

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has blamed the Australian Workers Union’s campaign against the agriculture visa for ­delays in finalising bilateral agreements for the migrant farm worker scheme.

But the union has vowed to continue warning Southeast Asian nations in bilateral talks with Australia about its exploitation concerns, saying it will ­“always speak up and fight when workers are being abused”.

The row comes amid a spat within the Coalition over the visa, with some Nationals MPs accusing the Liberal Party of obstructing the progress of the visa as they call for the deals to be urgently ­finalised. The government activated the regulations for the visa program in September but negotiations with Southeast Asian nations – led by Foreign Minister Marise Payne – continue.

The AWU previously warned the new visa program would damage Australia’s important relationships with Pacific nations by clashing with the Pacific Labour Scheme and entrench exploitation in the sector.

Mr Littleproud told 2GB radio on Wednesday that the AWU had directly lobbied Southeast Asian ambassadors and warned their workers would be exploited if they travelled to Australia under the visa.

“They believed Australian farmers would simply exploit every worker that came through – an absolutely abhorrent situation that has cast doubt in the minds of some of these countries,” he said.

“We‘re trying to work through that with them, and that’s probably delayed us more than what we would have liked.”

Mr Littleproud accused the AWU of “muddying the waters” saying it was just a small cohort of farmers who “do the wrong thing”.

“You just don’t demonise and generalise a whole industry on it. And we will weed those people out, but you just don’t do that,” he said.

AWU national secretary Dan Walton said the union would ­always “speak up and fight when workers are being abused.”

“Our union has no desire to ­demonise agriculture, but nor will we stay silent about an industry which, report after report, has shown is addicted to worker ­exploitation and worker abuse,” he told The Australian.

“If your industry serves up a mountain of bad apples you have to be unethical, stupid, or both to ignore the need for systemic ­reform.”

Mr Walton said the union would continue to sound warnings about the agriculture visa, describing it as “dangerous” and an avenue for “more exploitation”.

Anthony Albanese on Wednesday accused the government of trying to shift the blame for the stalled visa.

“This government has a pattern of behaviour. They make an announcement, then nothing happens, then they blame someone else, What they actually need is to deliver,” the Opposition Leader said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed to implement the agriculture visa in June in return for the Nationals’ support of an in-principle free-trade deal with Britain, which waived the ­requirement for British backpackers to complete 88 days of farm work if they wanted to stay in Australia for two years.

The Nationals argued that the agriculture visa was essential to compensate for labour shortages that would be exacerbated by scrapping the requirement.