THE Federal Government will reportedly honour the agriculture visa agreement with Vietnam, paving the way for farmers to hire ahead of harvest.
A Senate Estimates hearing last week confirmed Labor would honour the agreement with the South-East Asian country following a memorandum of understanding established before the election.
The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee heard the visa would be given another name.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster said she “fought hard” for the ag visa.
“We welcome migrant workers from Vietnam and are pleased the Labor Government will honour the Australian ag visa agreement,” she said. Robinvale, Tol Tol and Wemen grower Tony Natale, who grows table grapes, avocados and citrus, said the news was a relief for the agriculture and horticulture industries.
He said it would help solve an ongoing issue for the industry that was compounded during the pandemic years.
“All I can say is that it brings a sigh of relief,” he said.
“We can produce the best product in the world, but not being able to get employees to harvest it was going to be devastating.”
The ag visa was designed to supplement the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme for workers from South-East Asia. Since June, the PALM scheme has brought in just 10,800 workers.
Dr Webster said the Senate Estimates hearing proved Labor needed to reinstate the ag visa to help ease the cost of living crisis, rather than rely on the PALM scheme, which provides visas for workers from just nine Pacific island nations and Timor-Leste.
“Australia needs 172,000 workers to get product from the paddock to the plate right now,” Dr Webster said.
“There are still not enough workers available.
The PALM scheme will not be able to bring them in and practical solutions are required to get farmers the workers they need.
“Because, as we know, when the supply of food goes down the cost goes up.”
The committee also heard there had been correspondence for a similar visa for India, but the idea was dumped by Labor and instead incorporated into the PALM scheme.
“Scrapping the ag visa was a terrible move by Labor and is costing Australians more at the checkout when they pay for their groceries,” Dr Webster said.
“The cost-of-living crisis requires common sense and that includes allowing our farmers to get the workers they desperately need.”
