AGRICULTURE —
PACIFIC LABOUR SCHEME AND SEASONAL WORKER PROGRAMME
1133. Hon
COLIN de GRUSSA to the Minister for Regional Development:
I
refer to the minister's media statement of 15 October 2020 entitled ''Supporting
agricultural industries to secure workers''.
(1) Please table
all correspondence between the state government and the Northern Territory
government in relation to recruiting ''Seasonal Worker Programme and
Pacific Labour Scheme workers that have already quarantined in the Howard
Springs facility in the Northern Territory''.
(2) Will any
compensation be paid to the NT government for its costs associated with
bringing these workers into the NT?
(3) If yes to (2), what is the
estimated cost of this deal and how many workers are eligible?
(4) Does the
minister concede that these workers may be highly specialised for certain
industries such as fruit picking, meaning that other agricultural sectors would
remain without access to a skilled workforce specific to their needs?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(4) We are
in the middle of a pandemic and we know that sectors of the industry have
become very reliant on European labour. It has never been proposed that
any involvement from the seasonal worker programme is going to be such that it
can replace all those workers from Europe. It is a question of doing the best
that we can. We cannot magically dream up another 70 000 backpackers across
Australia.
Let me explain what is happening with
Howard Springs. Already in the Northern Territory there are two cohorts of
Ni-Vanuatu workers who have come in, primarily to be engaged in the mango
harvest. We have indicated to the NT
government and to the labour hire companies or the approved employers that have
brought them it in that when those workers have finished their period and
picked the mangoes out in the Northern Territory,
they would be welcome to come over into WA. We understand a third cohort was
being planned, but there was not
necessarily a sufficient NT grower interest. We have indicated that we would be
prepared to work with WA horticulturalists
to bring that third cohort in. We have also, of course, been very clear
that in relation to that third cohort, which would be quarantined in Northern
Territory, of course we would not expect the
Northern Territory to be out of pocket and we would need to enter into an
arrangement whereby we share the cost between the WA growers and the
state government. If that is going to happen, that
will now be very much in the hands of these approved employers. We certainly
are encouraging them.