Federal election 2022: Barnaby Joyce reveals biggest issue facing regional Qld

On the campaign trail, Barnaby Joyce has revealed one of the biggest issues currently facing regional Queensland.

Foreign workers will be needed to take up farming work because Australian workers are “all in jobs”, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says.

Worker shortages in agriculture is one of the biggest issues in regional Queensland at the moment, the Regional Development Minister said.

He has been in the state’s regions in a five-day blitz, hitting the Nationals-held seats of Dawson, Flynn and Capricornia.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce campaigning in regional Queensland. Picture: Supplied by Mr Joyce’s office.

“In regional areas it’s labour shortages that are the issue more so than flatlining wages. They can’t get anyone to work at all. Because there’s just no workers there, because they’re all in jobs,” he said.

“If you can’t get Australians, because they’re just not available, to do the work then you have to allow people come in from overseas.

“They earn money, support their family back in the Philippines or India, and do a job that Australians need to get to that other people are unwilling or unable to do.”

He pointed to the newly created Agricultural visa, aimed at 10 Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), but it has a slow rollout with Vietnam the only one to sign up so far after penning a Memorandum of Understanding in March this year.

“Bilateral agreements take time. We’ve got Vietnam, there’s another one coming forward,” Mr Joyce said.

Opposition agricultural spokeswoman Julie Collins criticised the visa scheme but would not say whether Labor would scrap it if elected to government.

Opposition agriculture spokeswoman Julie Collins. Picture: David Killick

“This Ag visa, there are no workers in Australia today. It is not a silver bullet,” she said at the National Press Club on Tuesday.

“We still don’t know the details of the MOU. Labor will be making announce amendments later in the campaign.”

Ms Collins said it was not true to claim Australians did not want to work in the regions.

“At the moment we have plenty of people moving to regional Australia, certainly that is not the experience I have had,” she said.

Originally published as Federal election 2022: Barnaby Joyce reveals biggest issue facing regional Qld