CORONAVIRUS — STATE ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN —
AGRICULTURE SECTOR
568. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I refer to the shortage of skilled and unskilled workers in
the agriculture sector, including the need for 1 000 skilled heavy vehicle
operators for harvesting, 200 shearers and up to 440 grape pickers for the wine
industry. What is the government doing to
urgently attract people to these roles and provide certainty for WA's
$10 billion agricultural sector?
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
I answered this question, or a variance of it, a number of
times last week. I explained on numerous occasions that we are in a pandemic
and we have a hard border—we have a border internationally and we have
a border with the eastern states. We are trying to deal with some significant
issues. We obviously need to look within. We need Western Australians to
undertake these jobs; that is what we need. I cannot magic up fruit pickers
from Vanuatu or people from other countries who would ordinarily do these roles
because we have a hard international border. We have launched a massive effort
to train Western Australians, with cheaper fees and far more courses. A huge
number of people have applied. As I have said repeatedly, we will shortly
launch a major campaign to get Western Australians
out there to undertake these roles across regional Western Australia. Those are
the sorts of things that we can do,
but it is a joint effort. Industry needs to work to attract people and it needs
to promote the opportunities that are out there. It cannot always be the
government's responsibility. Members opposite always seem to ask, ''Why
doesn't the government fix it?'' Industry needs to help. If
farming communities and the agriculture sector need additional people, they need to promote the jobs and hunt the
people down to do these roles. That is what needs to happen. We will do
our bit, but we will not run the risk of having the virus come in by dropping
the interstate or international borders. If that is what the member is asking
us to do, we are not doing it.