Seasonal workers: First Pacific Island workers destined for Victorian farms land in Australia

The first Pacific Island workers bound for Victorian farms have finally landed and are in quarantine – but is their arrival too late for farmers struggling with workforce shortages?

Vanuatan fruit pickers arrive at Hobart airport for two weeks of quarantine, before heading to Victoria to begin work. Picture: Agriculture Victoria/Chris Crerar

ABOUT 200 Pacific Island seasonal workers will start work on Victorian farms in the next fortnight, with the first planeload of workers finally arriving in Tasmania for quarantine.

The workers will be the first to arrive in Victoria under the federal seasonal worker program in more than a year, when the scheme was first suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Victorian Government committed in January to bring 1500 Pacific Island workers into the state by the end of June, to help farmers struggling with workforce shortages, after finalising a quarantine-sharing arrangement with Tasmania.

More than 100 workers arrived in Hobart on Friday night, with another planeload expected this evening.

After 14 days’ quarantine, they will make their way to farms across Victoria, including the Sunraysia, Goulburn Valley, Yarra Valley and Gippsland.

Under the scheme, farmers pay $2000 per worker to help cover quarantine costs, on top of the usual costs of the seasonal worker program such as accommodation and flights. The Victorian Government is stumping up $7.8 million to cover the bulk of the quarantine costs.

The first workers were initially expected to be in Victoria by the end of March, however it’s understood there were bureaucratic delays in finalising flights and visas.

Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the workers’ arrival was made possible by the collaboration between the Victorian and Tasmanian governments.

“Bringing these workers into Victoria will ease some pressure for farmers, but it’s not a silver bullet,” Ms Thomas said.

“We need to keep working to encourage locals into these jobs, something that the Federal Government should play an active role in.”

The Weekly Times this month reported that federal and state incentive schemes to attract local workers to farm work are having limited success.

The Commonwealth’s offer to cover $6000 in relocation costs has only been taken up by 268 Australian workers, while Victoria’s $50 million Agriculture Workforce Plan program finished with about $20 million still in the kitty.

Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh said the workers’ arrival was “too little too late”, and that farmers had been forced to wait an extra six months to get workers on the ground.

“Industry presented a solution to Government in October last year to quarantine workers through a purpose-built facility in Mildura, but the Andrews Government refused to adopt it,” Mr Walsh said.