Seasonal workers: Pitch to bring Vanuatu workers to Victoria falls on deaf ears
A bid to bring hundreds of Vanuatu harvest workers to Victoria has been ignored, while hopes of a travel bubble with the Pacific have been labelled ‘naive’ by one federal minister.
A PROPOSAL from the Vanuatu Government that could see up to 2000 harvest workers on Victorian farms within weeks has drawn little interest from state and federal governments, despite the worsening labour shortage.
The offer from COVID-free Vanuatu has been on the table since October – and in that time neither Victoria nor National cabinet have responded in any detail.
It comes as the labour shortage – expected to hit 26,000 by March – starts to bite, with farmers reporting crop losses up to $38 million so far, and fruit and vegetable prices starting to rise.
Despite ongoing pressure from industry, Victoria has yet to re-open its borders to Pacific Island seasonal workers, while new figures released this week show other states have brought in just 1425 of 22,000 available pre-vetted workers.
Former Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce president Shaun Gilchrist, who is working with the Vanuatu Government on its seasonal worker proposal, said the island nation had taken a proactive approach to put forward solutions, but there had been “no substantial response … nor interest” so far.
Vanuatu has proposed three options to bring its workers to Victoria: a travel bubble between Australia and approved Pacific island countries, similar to the New Zealand travel bubble; pre-departure quarantine in Vanuatu; or on-farm quarantine.
The Federal Government is currently undertaking a COVID-19 risk analysis of Pacific Island nations, though Agriculture Minister David Littleproud warned that may not result in the same arrangement as with New Zealand.
“The management of COVID in New Zealand is different to that of Pacific nations so it would be naive to think that a similar bubble could be achieved with Pacific nations, particularly when we can’t even get the states to finalise a quarantine protocol for the Pacific Workers program,” Mr Littleproud said.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas did not directly respond to questions on the Vanuatu proposal, stating: “We continue to work on options to address the shortage, including welcoming Pacific Island workers to Victoria”.
National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said state governments needed to “uphold their end of the bargain” to bring in more seasonal workers.
“Farmers cannot afford to wait one moment longer for state governments to do their bit to provide safe pathways for the arrival of much-needed international seasonal workers,” Mr Mahar said.
“If action is not taken immediately, there is no doubt supermarket supply will tighten and prices could also increase.”
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