OFFERING Sunraysia’s illegal workers a path to Australian citizenship has been mooted as the answer to this summer’s anticipated harvest labour shortage.
Mildura councillor Glenn Milne has urged the council to discuss the matter “fairly quickly”, which he said could bring a “win-win for all”.
Cr Milne said a lack of travelling backpackers due to international COVID-19 travel restrictions would leave growers without the workforce to harvest this season’s crops.
“The repercussions could be quite horrific in a worst-case scenario,” Cr Milne warned.
“It really is a major problem and a very urgent one for the whole community.
“The money that comes to the grape growers is going back into our community and all of that keeps the economy going and we can’t afford to lose a large percentage of a year’s crop.”
Cr Milne said offering illegal workers an avenue to citizenship through seasonal work could be the only hope for some growers this year.
“We know there’s somewhere near 10,000 illegal workers and, if there was some road to make those workers legitimate, that may actually save our farmers’ crops this year,” he said.
“They are already here and there’s not too many of them, if any, being arrested for anything … and so they are basically keeping a low profile, they are working here and keeping out of everybody’s road.
“When we’re in a desperate need and they desperately want to stay and live in Australia then is there a compromise that can be met that gives them a path to becoming a legitimate citizen of Australia.
“It’s desperate times — surely there’s some sort of compromise that needs to be considered or looked at to assist our farmers because otherwise we could see fruit rot and that’s not a win for anybody.”
Cr Milne said he believed the concept was what “a fair-minded person would think that’s a reasonable ask”.
“You spend a huge amount of police resources and everything else trying to round these people up, send them home and all the rest and it’s not working,” he said.
“It needs to be considered because otherwise we are taking a huge risk if we are opening the door to backpackers.”
Cr Milne said that while “all options” needed consideration, time was of the essence and could rule out the possibility of quarantining overseas workers.
“You would have got to look at cost and how long is that going to take,” he said.
“By the time you round up enough people who want to come here and quarantine, how long is that going to take? A month? Two months? Three months?
“I don’t know that we’ve got that long, but I’d be trying to look at all and any option, but whatever we do it needs to happen very, very quickly … within days.”
Mildura hub could help pickers, says Webster
MEMBER for Mallee Anne Webster wants to establish a Home Affairs hub in Mildura to service workforce needs and support migrant workers on Sunraysia farms.
Dr Webster told Federal Parliament this week the closure of Australia’s international border had amplified pre-existing workforce challenges in the Mallee horticultural industry.
“The industry faces a shortfall of thousands of workers until international labour can once again be employed,” Dr Webster said.
“Although worsened by COVID-19, these challenges are not new.
“The industry is heavily reliant on overseas workers because low-skilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour supplies have always been a challenge for our region and our industries.”
Dr Webster said she convened a webinar for horticultural producers and contractors last week to discuss current visa options and the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement.
She said the webinar was joined by representatives from the Department of Home Affairs and those present had decades worth of experience in horticulture and associated labour-hire industries.
Dr Webster said it was during the webinar that decentralisation of government departments was discussed.
“There was clear frustration and they expressed confusion with current visa processes,” she said.
“I am eager to establish a Home Affairs hub in Mildura — why not — to service the complex workforce needs of business in the region and support the thousands of migrant workers that come to work on our farms.
“A Home Affairs hub would be an important step towards improving a government mechanism to manage workforce shortages and red tape complexities.”
