MEMBER for Mallee Anne Webster has allayed fears the long-awaited agricultural work visa may not be up and running by the end of this year, saying the process “should not be incredibly difficult”.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud remains confident the visa will be operational before 2022, however a recent Senate hearing was told there was still some design work to be done before its implementation.
Citrus Australia chief Nathan Hancock said the Federal Government must implement the visa this year to ensure growers were no worse off under changes made under the UK Free Trade Agreement.
“The new seasonal agriculture worker visa must be implemented as quickly as possible, and certainly by the stated aim of the end of this year,” Mr Hancock said.
“For many years, industry has been calling for appropriate visas to attract people who want to work in agriculture rather than people who have to work in agriculture to extend their holiday.
“It is regrettable that the ag visa has taken so long to find favour within government.
“We can’t help but be cautious in our commentary because industry has been promised an ag visa since at least 2018.”
Dr Webster said The Nationals were “really looking to push it through” as a matter of urgency.
“The structural ag visa is looking, at this stage, to mirror the seasonal worker program, which has already got its structural base, so it should not be incredibly difficult,” Dr Webster said.
“The issues are going to be around quarantine (and) we already know there are issues with that, so that’s of concern,” she said.
“It’s about making it easier for everyone, but also ensuring that there are safety mechanisms so that people are not going to be exploited … we want to avoid that and therefore the structure is incredibly important.”
