Australian Workers Union wants agriculture visas canned

The Australian Workers’ Union wants the ag visa to be “put out of its misery” after Asian nations started to cool on their participation in the program.

The Australian Workers’ Union has called on the federal government’s agriculture visa to be “put out of its misery” after Asian nations started to cool on their participation in the program.

The union opposes the visa’s introduction on the grounds that existing levels of exploitation and abuse in the horticulture sector would become worse.

AWU National Secretary Daniel Walton said the reported withdrawal of the Philippines was proof the new visa was doomed.

“The meetings we’ve had with ambassadors are confidential,” he said.

“But if there are nations now formally withdrawing from engagement with the visa I can confirm that is entirely consistent with the tenor of the discussions we’ve been having.

“Our union will always fight against the abuse and exploitation of workers in this country and if that means engaging with foreign embassies then that’s precisely what we’ll do.

“If Asian nations are rejecting this agriculture visa it’s not because they trust the AWU blindly.

“It’s because they’ve probably read the 11 independent reports since 2016 that have confirmed widespread abuse of foreign workers on Australian farms.”

Covid prompted the need for the new agricultural visas with closed international borders denying access to holiday-makers and backpackers to work on Australian farms.

The visas are also designed to provide a pathway to permanent residency, but Foreign Minister Marise Payne is still in talks on finer details of the program.

Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud. Picture: Gary Ramage

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the delays had allowed the AWU to “scaremonger” overseas embassies and ambassadors.

“They’ve gone to them and said don’t send your citizens to Australia, they’ll be exploited,” he said.

“That’s complicated much of the negotiations that Marise Payne is charged with the responsibility of having.

“What we’re seeing is they’ve scaremongered, and they’ve also basically trashed our reputation not only in the agriculture sector but our reputation as a country, and the Labor Party hasn’t got the guts to stand up.”