TOGETHER, we are changing the game for seasonal worker accommodation.
A public-private partnership announced this week provides a blueprint for seasonal worker accommodation that is good for workers, growers and Australia’s biggest horticultural powerhouse.
The concept was designed by a talented entrepreneur from Paringa, whose facility I visited in 2019 on the invitation of then Mayor Simon Clemence, who had been hearing rave reviews.
The facility was incredible and unique.
Legend has it that when it was first pitched to the banks, they were reluctant to finance it because it didn’t exist anywhere else. But they took a chance, the facility was built, and the rest is history. Farmers who had previously been tearing their hair out with red tape, planning rigmarole and the gauntlet of (sometimes) shady contractors, suddenly had a solution.
I stayed in touch with the Paringa team and during the hiatus of the pandemic, put together a document titled 5000 Beds in 5 Years.
It was an ambitious goal but I’m an ambitious girl.
I pitched the “Paringa” model to Minister for Agriculture, Mary-Anne Thomas and Australian Table Grape Association CEO Jeff Scott.
While they were considering it, I contacted the Paringa team to see what they were up to.
They had been interested in expanding into Sunraysia but their first experience (through no fault of their own) wasn’t so great.
I was hoping they would have another crack.
Fortunately for us, they were still keen and had even purchased the Palms Caravan Park in Mildura. Plans were already well advanced.
I mentioned this to a ministerial staffer, who suggested they apply to the Seasonal Workforce Accommodation Program, which they did, and were successful.
The facility would have been built with or without public money, but the $1 million public contribution means it will deliver even more beds.
The exciting part is this public-private partnership could be picked up and replicated, many times over across Sunraysia from Merbein to Robinvale.
Opportunities abound. Local entrepreneurs, call me.
