Coronavirus: David Littleproud warns states with closed borders may not get access to fruit pickers

Farmers in three states could miss out on accessing thousands of overseas workers to help pick crops if their governments don’t open their borders.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has fired a warning shot at WA, Queensland and Tasmania after they refused to sign up to his agricultural worker’s code, saying they may miss out on overseas workers to pick their crops during harvest. Picture: Sean Davey

Farmers in Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania could miss out on accessing thousands of overseas workers to help pick crops this harvest if their governments don’t sign the agricultural workers’ code that allows cross-border movements.

Intensifying the borders stoush between the federal government and some premiers, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said all Australians — including those outside Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania — should be given the chance to fill fruit and vegetable picking jobs first.

If they were not given that ­opportunity, the Morrison government would find it “very difficult” to allow those states to participate in the seasonal worker and Pacific labour programs to ­alleviate workforce shortages across the agricultural sector.

“It’ll be very challenging for the federal government to ­approve any state to apply for support under the Pacific and seasonal worker programs if they haven’t signed up to the ag code,” Mr Littleproud said.

The agriculture workers code was adopted by some states at the last national cabinet meeting and is designed to allow free movement across borders.

“WA and Queensland and Tasmania who didn’t sign up to it, we’ll be saying ‘you can’t bring in anybody from overseas’,” Mr Littleproud said.

WA and Tasmania are closed to the rest of Australia, while Queensland has a ban on NSW, ACT and Victorian residents after declaring them COVID-19 hot spots.

The threat comes as National Farmers Federation president Tony Mahar cautioned Australians faced higher food prices ­because of the shortage of thousands of workers due to COVID-19 restrictions.

With many farmers expecting their best summer harvests in at least five years, restrictions and border closures have culled their two major worker sources to harvest grain and pick fruit: backpackers and people who gain a visa through the Pacific Island scheme.

More than 160 mango pickers from Vanuatu arrived in the Northern Territory earlier this month as part of a trial under the Pacific program. Mr Littleproud estimated another 1000 to 4000 workers will arrive in Australia before Christmas after national cabinet agreed last month to restart “targeted ­recruitments”.

Mr Mahar urged state and federal governments to fly in more workers from the Pacific Islands to pick cherries, mangoes, plums, nectarines and grapes.

He also asked the Morrison government to encourage people on JobSeeker to temporarily move to the bush for farm work.

“There could be a reduction in the supply of products because it just won’t be able to be picked in time,” Mr Mahar said. “There will be an increased cost in products because of the delay and demand for labour. People may have to be paid more and it might cost more to get the crop off.

“It is also going to mean that (farmers) will have to work 20 hours a day to get what looks like and hopefully will be one of the biggest crops the country has had.”

Federal cabinet is set to consider as early as this week a suite of incentives for students and unemployed Australians to get into the regions to pick crops.

Mr Littleproud acknowledged farmers were sceptical the federal government would be able to get Australians to do the work but said he was working with Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston to “find ways to get them off the couch and into the paddocks”.

West Australian Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan defended the hard border closure and said interstate workers were “not a major source of labour” in the state. She said the agricultural workers’ code was unlikely to benefit WA growers.

“Our full focus is on mobilising Western Australians and temporary residents to fill harvest jobs in WA,” Ms MacTiernan said.

Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said the government would work with industry to ensure there was suitable labour available for farmers. Tasmanian Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett said the health and safety of Tasmanians “must come first” and the agricultural workers’ code “did not align with our strong border policies”.

The state government had formally expressed interest to the federal government to opt into a restart of the seasonal worker program and would work with growers and industry groups to ensure Tasmania “attracts and retains harvest workers”.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the sector “has developed an addiction to foreign labour”, which had grown worse over the last decade.

“It has been made worse by the current government which put a new tax on foreign labour, promised and then reneged on the creation of an agriculture visa, but hasn’t even acknowledged the structural issues let alone produce a policy to address them. Now it just wants to blame the states,” he said.