Farm jobs incentive flop as just 368 Aussies sign up to federal scheme

Fewer than 400 Australians have signed up for the Federal Government’s offer of $6000 to cover the costs of moving for farm work. Now there’s drastic changes to the scheme.

Just 368 Australians have opted into the Federal Government’s relocation assistance scheme to undertake fruit picking jobs.

Just 368 Australians have signed on to pick fruit and vegies under the Federal Government’s incentive scheme to attract more people to harvest work.

The Weekly Times can reveal the low uptake after the Government last week quietly unveiled changes to the $17.4m program to now allow workers a $2000 cashback on relocation expenses for completing just 40 hours’ farm work.

The changes are the latest in a string of measures with questionable success rates, that the federal and state governments have introduced to get more Aussies into short-term farm jobs and help with agriculture’s labour shortages.

Under the Federal Government’s incentive program introduced last November, eligible Australian workers could claim up to $6000 in accommodation and travel costs for undertaking six week’ work, while temporary visa holders could claim up to $2000.

But figures from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment show that, as of April 15, just 1171 claim agreements had been negotiated through employment providers: 368 for Australians and 803 for visa holders.

Under the changes introduced last week, under the new program name of AgMove, Australians now only have to complete 40 hours harvest work over a fortnight, to be able to claim up to $2000 in reimbursements for accommodation and travel costs.

Temporary visa holders will be able to claim up to $650. 

Workers who complete another 120 hours work over four weeks will go on to be eligible to claim the full $6000 or $2000.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert said the changes were to make the scheme more flexible, to meet the needs of farmers who had short, but intense harvest seasons.

Peak vegetable lobby AusVeg welcomed the changes, but warned growers were still struggling with uncertainty over workforce numbers.

“Growers need assurances that they can access a workforce,” AusVeg chief executive James Whiteside said.

“Unfortunately, history tells us that we cannot rely on domestic workers taking up the package in numbers.”