Farm labour: 1500 seasonal workers for Victoria to quarantine in Tasmania

A new agreement between Victoria and Tasmania will help bring seasonal workers on to Victorian farms. See how the deal works, how many workers and when they will arrive on farm.

An initial 1500 seasonal workers will quarantine in Tasmania before arriving at Victorian farms. Picture: Adam Head

SEASONAL workers will quarantine in Tasmania before arriving in Victoria for harvest work, under a new agreement between the two states announced today.

An initial 1,500 workers from the Pacific Islands — set for Victoria — will quarantine for 14 days in Tasmanian Government-designated facilities, with the agreement in place for the first half of the year.

Costs will be shared by the Victorian Government and agriculture industry.

After the quarantine period and with a confirmed negative test for coronavirus, workers will be transferred on flights to Victoria, managed by the Victorian Government.

Victoria is the only state to have not brought in any seasonal workers but this commitment is more workers than all other states have brought in, combined, so far.

To date, the other states have brought more than 1425 workers of a possible 22,000 pre-vetted Pacific Islanders.

In return for quarantining our seasonal workers, Victoria will facilitate getting Australians who are overseas home on behalf of Tasmania’s contribution to the national repatriation effort, which currently stands at 330 travellers.

The repatriated Australians will undertake their 14-day quarantine in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system, with the costs borne by the Tasmanian Government.

A statement released by the Victorian Premier’s office said the arrangement was subject to final consultation and agreement by the Federal Government, but Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas confirmed when speaking to media today that the Federal Government supported the proposal.

Ms Thomas said subject to visa processing requirements, the state could expect to see workers on farms towards the end of next month and expected the 1500 Pacific Islanders to arrive over eight weeks via a plane load a week.

Australians have typically been reluctant to take on harvest work due to its short-term, casual nature; a recent Victorian Government program offering $250 a day in relocation incentives attracted just 15 applications in six months, while a similar federal scheme has brought in just 253 registrations nationwide.

When questioned about the failed incentives today, Ms Thomas passed the buck to the Federal Government.

“There is an incentive I think that would work and that is to enable people on the JobSeeker allowance to retain that allowance while earning money on the ground as part of this harvest season,” she said.

It was also her response to 1500 workers not being enough to fill the farm labour shortage.

“We need to look to local workers to find a solution … I will not be giving up on Australian workers to do this important work,” she said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the arrangement wasn’t a “silver bullet” in addressing the season’s labour woes but “will ease some of the pressure being felt by farmers”.

“Victorian growers are facing a bumper crop this season, some for the first time in years,” he said.

“This is a critical step towards filling that workforce gap and ensuring fruit and vegetables don’t go to waste.”

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said it was a good outcome for Tasmania and that the state’s own requirements for seasonal workers “will continue to remain the priority and will not be impacted”.

“Under the agreement with Victoria, Tasmania will assist Victoria to ensure it has the workforce it needs to harvest its produce, while still contributing to the national repatriation effort to bring our people home, ensuring more of our stranded Australians can reunite with their loved ones,” he said.

Victoria’s chief health officer and Tasmania’s director of public health will finalise the conditions of quarantining seasonal workers and their countries of origin, and farmers will finalise the necessary paperwork and approvals with the Commonwealth before workers begin to arrive in Tasmania.

Victoria’s Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, and Tasmania’s Department of Premier and Cabinet will work together on the logistics of getting workers on to farms.

The necessary approvals and logistics to facilitate the Australian arrivals into Victoria will be finalised in the “coming weeks”.

Agriculture Victoria first flagged back in October that it hoped to re-open the seasonal worker scheme by December 1 and has been heavily criticised for the delay and leaving industry in the dark on the Victorian Government’s intentions.

Almost $40 million worth of produce nationwide has already been lost due to a lack of farm workers, and that figure is expected to rise.

Victorian farmers, who are unable to find workers, told The Weekly Times this week about the “heartbreaking” call to plough their produce into the ground.

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