PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
WORKERS REGIONAL TRAVELAND ACCOMMODATION SUPPORT SCHEME
1029. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the Minister for Agriculture and
Food:
I refer to correspondence received
by me and, no doubt, other members of this place that conveys that without
seasonal workers, fruit and vegetable growers and winemakers will struggle to
fill hundreds of skilled and unskilled roles within the main picking season beginning
from February next year.
(1) Given that
the primary industries workers regional travel and accommodation support scheme
is capped at $3 million and is on a first come, first served basis, will the
government allocate additional funding if all scheme funds have been expended
by February 2021?
(2) Will the
minister commit to monthly reporting of the uptake in expenditure of this fund
so that industry can measure its success and have an understanding of the
remaining funding?
(3) Given that a full-time
workload is a requirement to access this support scheme, how will this cater
for the sporadic nature of fruit and grape picking, which can sometimes see
60-hour weeks followed by days of no work, depending on the weather?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the
member for the question.
(1)–(3) I
do hope we get through that $3 million very quickly because that will mean that
there has been a great uptake of the program and that thousands of Western Australian
seasonal workers will be out picking fruit and vegetables. Of course, if the
fund is that successful and more is required to top it up, that will be
considered. The government will certainly provide regular updates on the usage
of the scheme. We are trying to give some flexibility around that. In terms of
hours worked, we were concerned, for example, that someone might go up to
Broome and pick asparagus for three hours a week and claim the $40 a day, so we
were trying to put a framework around that. We will absolutely recognise a spread
of hours over a two-week period.