Pacific seasonal worker program works for both parties

Tongan father of six Lafaele Kautai may not look it, but he’s an agent of Australian foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific.

Lafaele Kautai tends to the seedlings at a farm near Ballina. Lafaele lives in Tonga and has been doing seasonal work on the farm for the past seven years. Picture: Luke Marsden

Tongan father of six Lafaele Kautai may not look it, but he’s an agent of Australian foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific.

For each of the past seven years, the 50-year-old has left behind his own farm in Tonga to cultivate ­cucumbers at Wardell, on NSW’s north coast, under the government’s seasonal worker program.

Although the program has ballooned to include more than 6000 workers each year from 10 Pacific nations, farmers have complained that there are still shortages of legal farm workers.

The Nationals responded by pushing a new farm visa scheme, but were thwarted in cabinet by senior Liberals who feared the scheme would undermine preferential entry for Pacific workers, threatening key strategic relat­ionships as China pushes for greater influence in the region.

Mr Kautai said he was “very happy” with the scheme, which had improved life for his family.

“We built a house and I have already bought a light truck for taking some water, for cousins’ and also my cattle,” he told The Australian. “(I’ve learnt) about planting seeds and some sort of things like that — how to look after (the plants).”

National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar praised the program but said many smaller operators struggled to meet its requirements, such as funding airfares and pastoral care, when they might need the extra help for only a few weeks.

“There’s no doubt that Australian farmers would love for domestic workers to come, but they don’t or won’t,” Mr Mahar said.

“Unfortunately the fear is that they’ll start using illegal workers and go into the black labour system … and just try to get workers from wherever they can.”

Mr Mahar proposed a portable agricultural visa that “allows workers to go from farm to farm or region to region”.

Grower John Ide, who owns the farm where Mr Kautai works, said it should be easier to bring such workers into Australia.

“I like to try to give everyone a bit of an opportunity,” Mr Ide said. “I don’t like bringing the same workers back all the time because I think it’s not really fair on the other people over there that need a hand.”

Stephen Scurr, whose family business Pinata Farms grows pineapples and mangoes in Queensland and the Northern Territory, said seasonal workers were content to stay in the region for only a few months whereas ­locals tended to want full-time work all year round. He said backpackers typically wanted to be there for only the minimum 88 days of agriculture work required to extend their visas.

Mr Scurr said the government should streamline the process and limit the amount of paperwork required to be involved in what he described as a “great ­program”.