Australian growers want reform of Pacific seasonal work scheme
Updated
The Australian horticultural industry says the Pacific seasonal workers pilot project needs to operate in more Australian communities and place less reliance on labour hire companies. Pacific Island leaders have been strong advocates for the pilot project, and its progress will be one of the key issues at this year's Pacific Island Forum in Cairns.
Presenter:Jemima Garrett
Speaker: Kris Newton, CEO of the Horticultre Australia Council
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GARRETT: The pilot project was slow to get off the ground and has been affected by the Global Financial Crisis as Australian Timber companies went bust and the first intake of Tongan workers lost their jobs.
Despite these teething problems the peak industry body, the Horticulture Australia Council, has lost none of its enthusiasm for the project.
CEO Kris Newton says there are enormous benefits - from the purely economic such as a reliable workforce and the potential that workforce creates for growth in the Australian Horticultural Industry through to the cultural enrichment of Australian communities developing strong links with their Pacific Island neighbours.
But Ms Newton says some tweaking of the pilot project is needed for Phase II which will get under way after this year's Pacific Islands Forum meeting.
NEWTON: The primary issues for us are the model of the employer, which in this case is a labour hire firm, a contracting firm. Without wishing to criticise the majority of them who I am sure are excellent businesses and do the right thing, there have been complaints in the past about the behaviour of some of them, unethical behaviour, not treating their workers and probably not giving them appropriate Australian wages and conditions and so on.
GARRETT: So how would you like to see the system change so that doesn't happen?
NEWTON: We'd like to see less of an emphasis on the labour hire companies process in total. The model that we proposed and which was the one that most effective in New Zealand was a cooperative of local growers who got together to be the employer and pooled their resources to deal with some of the issues around pastoral care and making sure that all of the IR (industrial relations) and Occupational Health and Safety and training and so on issues were all covered off on.
GARRETT: Kris Newton CEO of the Horticulture Australia Council.
The Horticultural industry also wants to see more responsibility given to local advisory councils, which it says are better equipped to ensure continuity of employment for Pacific Island workers, no matter what the world economy or the notoriously fickle Australian weather might throw at them.
During the second phase of the pilot project up to 800 Pacific Islanders will be able to come to Australia each year for three years.
Ms Newton says she would like to see those workers go to a wider range of communities than is presently being considered.
NEWTON: We'd like lots of our regional communities to have the opportunity to test the system, to find out if it's going to be value for them, to see what issues might arise before they get large numbers of them and we're assuming that the pilot will be a success, and that the current restrictions on the number of visas will eventually be removed once the pilot is completed. When that happens, it's quite likely that large numbers of workers will be going to lots of regional communities around Australia. And so while we're keen to see larger numbers available should they be desired...at the moment, under the pilot, we're also keen to see regional communities across the country trial the benefits and work out the bugs in the system.
GARRETT: In the longer term, what is the potential in terms of the numbers of Pacific Island workers who could be offered work under this seasonal work scheme?
NEWTON: The honest answer is we don't really know. But it is a desperately needed scheme, except for this current financial year, our gaps in reliable seasonal labour have been steadily increasing for about the last decade or so, 10-15 years, and we see no end in sight in the long term to that. So I don't think it would fanciful to talk about numbers like 20,000, perhaps even 30,000.
