Negotiations continue on Vietnamese ag visa workers – 20 months on
The federal government is still ironing out how to bring 1000 Vietnamese workers into Australia under the defunct ag visa – 20 months after they were first given the green light.
The federal government has confirmed it is still trying to unlock a riddle that would allow a small number of Vietnamese workers, approved under the Morrison government’s agriculture visa scheme 18 months ago, passage to Australia.
The Coalition program, built to provide farmers access to workers from 10 ASEAN nations, was canned after the May 2022 election with the Albanese administration instead preferring to solve agriculture’s worker shortage with Oceania workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Scheme.
The current government promised that the first and only agreement under the now-defunct visa – for 1000 Vietnamese workers to enter Australia signed in March 2022 – would be honoured.
However, both the Foreign Affairs Department and office of Foreign Minister Penny Wong provided only a simple statement when asked how those talks were progressing.
A DFAT spokesman said a commencement date for the workers would be set “once implementation arrangements are agreed”.
“Negotiations are ongoing in relation to implementation arrangements under the MOU to enable Vietnamese workers to take up work opportunities in Australia’s agriculture sector,” he said.
The Weekly Times reported in May the finer details were being ironed out, with DFAT disclosing at the time there were outstanding issues not settled before May 2022, included worker recruitment and eligibility processes, employer welfare support obligations and requirements for preparing workers for life in Australia.
However, neither DFAT or Ms Wong’s office would provide further detail when recently asked if the parties had met or corresponded since May, including during the minister’s visit to Vietnam in August, and what issues had been resolved since.
More than 27,000 workers from Oceania have arrived under the PALM scheme since the election.
However, Oceania leaders are now considering capping workers released to the program.
National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke said there was “no signs” the government was advancing the MOU signed with Vietnam.
“The government says it will keep its word to Vietnam by shifting the ag visa under the PALM scheme, but these two visa streams are poles apart,” he said.
Differences include “dramatically different” employer obligations under the scheme due to evolving deed and guidelines responsibilities that were pushing some producers from the scheme.
“It’s time the government looked at practical solutions, like a visa pathway that is actually designed for agricultural workers,” Mr Jochinke said.
The news comes as the government also considers removing a visa requirement for backpackers to work in regional Australia.
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