Covid vaccines mandatory for Victorian farmers and agriculture industry

Agriculture workers will have two weeks to get their Covid jab to keep working, in a shock move that has outraged the state’s farming body.

Agriculture workers will have two weeks to get the Covid-19 jab to continue working in Victoria.

The Victorian Government announced the vaccine mandate today saying all workers – in Melbourne and regional Victoria – on the Authorised Worker list will require their first vaccine dose by Friday, October 15 in order to continue working onsite.

They will need to be fully vaccinated by November 26.

“They’re (the decisions) not about stopping people going to work, they’re about making sure we can open up,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.

“They’re about making sure people can go to work. That people can be safe and we can defend and deliver our road map for reopening.”

The move came as a shock to the state’s agriculture industry, and The Weekly Times understands the government’s agriculture department was not aware of the decision prior to the announcement.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said not consulting the industry was “beyond a joke”.

“Why would you do anything to an industry that could lead to further worker shortages?” she said.

“The risk with us is that if you get it wrong, you’re going to have no food on the shelves.”

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano. Picture: Aaron Francis

Ms Germano said the farming body had been trying to consult with the health department about how to protect agriculture and food supply – including a reduction in worker caps in the meat processing industry and isolation and quarantine policies throughout the industry – but had been ignored.

She said not being consulted about the mandate was “offensive”.

“First we had to beg to be on the essential workers list, then we had to beg ‘can you please give us priority access to vaccinations?’ because we’re on the essential worker list, so we would have had plenty of time for our industry to become vaccinated over a period of time and that didn’t happen,” she said.

“I wrote a letter to the health minister two weeks ago to say we need assistance with being able to comply (with health orders), particularly with freight operators. We don’t have vaccination hubs that they can actually access easily.”

Ms Germano stood by her stance of encouraging vaccination but “respecting individuals’ choices around their own personal health”.

“I won’t be firing anyone for a choice they make about their own health,” she said, adding that she believed other farmers would also use a “commonsense approach”.

Ms Germano added that she knew of some older farmers who said they wanted the Pfizer vaccine but were ineligible.

The Victorian Government says all vaccinations available to Victorians are safe and effective.

Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas’ office could not provide further information about the mandate, just that agriculture was on the Authorised Worker list and therefore workers would need to get the vaccine.

In a special investigation this week, involving more than 60 major agribusinesses and farming bodies, The Weekly Times found mixed reactions to whether the Covid jab should be mandated.

Strict vaccine mandates have been voluntarily rolled out across parts of the sector while other major agribusinesses vocally supported personal choice.