TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW – ABC NSW STATEWIDE, FIONA WYLLIE, 5 NOVEMBER 2018
E&OE
Subjects: Changes to Working Holiday Maker visa program and Seasonal Worker Program
FIONA WYLLIE:
The Federal Government has announced changes to visas to try to fill the shortage of farm workers. The Deputy Prime Minister has not ruled out further changes in the future but Michael McCormack says the news backpackers will be able to stay longer has already been received well at hostels.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I am pleased. More importantly, I know farmers and famer groups will be very pleased right around rural and regional areas. More support is now given to resolve those labour shortages with changes to two visa programs, the Working Holiday Maker visa program as well as the Seasonal Worker Program. We are changing priority areas, addressing the actual amount of time that they can spend, offering incentives for them if they want to come back. Essentially these changes do require a strict workforce test to be applied to ensure Australian workers have been given the first opportunity to work. But we’re freeing it up so we can increase the period of work in Australia to nine months for all workers. Under the Seasonal Worker program, it’s currently only six months for some countries. We’re lifting caps available to a number of countries that participate in what is called the subclass 462 visa program, under the Working Holiday Maker visa. What it means, in a nutshell, is that famers who require workers will get them, in the areas that they need them, for as long as they need them. It still would have been the case under the Harvest Trail situation under the visa programs that we have been working on and that we announced some time ago. We just need to make sure we get the right number of workers, in the areas, for the right duration. I appreciate the National Farmers Federation said some time ago that they needed more than 100,000 workers. That number was always difficult to quantify. It was based on a data of quite some time ago and given the fact we have got pretty dry conditions around the countryside and that lot of areas don’t actually have crops, a lot of fruit unfortunately won’t be getting picked as it would have in the past. We do need to get these workers in and that is what we are doing.
FIONA WYLLIE:
Deputy Prime Minister, the backpackers will no longer need to leave jobs every six months – is that right?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yes, the Northern Australian requirement has been lifted; it’s freer and it’s more accessible. There aren’t as many conditions around the actual visa programs. Already I have received a message from Andrew Broad, my Assistant Minister and the Member for Mallee which of course has the Sunraysia and a lot of other districts in it as far as horticulture and agriculture is concerned: He is already getting feedback from some of the backpacker hostels in Melbourne where they are delighted with the changes. It’s amazing how quickly the word spreads around. They will be doing more work and earning more money and then of course as backpackers often do, spending it, leaving it in Australia after having a very good time, working hard, partying hard and leaving the country with a good experience.
FIONA WYLLIE:
There’s been so much to-ing and fro-ing over this for a long time – will it take a while? I understand you are saying people in hostels in Melbourne are already saying they are out to pick fruit; but to get that international reputation again as being a good place to come and work and earn money?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Australia is a safe country. Australia has a reputation for having good employers who treat workers the right way. We are reducing too, under the Seasonal Worker program, the out-of-pocket expenses for employers. Workers repay their full travel cost except for the first $300; that’s a reduction from the previous $500. We’re making sure it’s good for employers and it’s good for employees, the backpackers. We’ve got the conditions right, we’re putting it in place; word will spread pretty quickly given the favourable conditions here in Australia not just for the workers on the farm but indeed there’s plenty of good destinations to come to in regional and rural areas for people to see and do things. When the work is done, the fruit is picked and the crops are harvested, then they want to have a good time on the coastal fringes and there’s that lure too. Australia is a pretty good country and the backpackers know it. I’m sure they will come, I’m sure they will work and I’m sure these changes in conditions will be a great incentive for them.
FIONA WYLLIE:
With the Pacific Islanders, at the time there was talk of doing things differently, there was a great deal of concern raised amongst the different islands that send workers here that we didn’t want them any more.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We have always wanted Pacific Islanders. Last year there were more than 6,000 Pacific Islanders who came in. That’s big part of the money those people earn. I’m sure that will continue. There’s nothing to suggest here that it won’t. They are still very very welcome, always have been and always will be.
FIONA WYLLIE:
They will be able to stay three months longer than before and you’re changing the age limits?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Pacific Islanders will always be welcome. We’re doing what we can to ensure that they come and that they know they are welcome. We have increased the period of work in Australia to nine months for all workers under the Seasonal Worker program. Pacific Islanders I’m sure will still come in their numbers. For them that’s a big part of their income: they earn good money, they take it back home to their families and that’s how they get through, year to year. I know in the communities throughout regional Australia and indeed in the southern parts and western parts of the Riverina area that I represent, I know they are very welcome and that will continue.
FIONA WYLLIE:
Will farmers see a change almost immediately, do you think, as a result of the announcement today?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I believe so. It’s very timely too because we are just getting to that time of year which does become very busy. Unfortunately there are some areas throughout the countryside, throughout Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and even now in parts of South Australia which are very dry. Many of those farmers don’t have the crops that they normally do, but these changes will be welcome in areas where there is plenty of bounty, where they actually do have fruit to be picked and crops to be harvested - for those areas it will be very welcome news for them, at the right time.
FIONA WYLLIE:
Any chance of bringing this same type of visa to Asian workers?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We can look at what we can do. Let’s see first how this unfolds - where the workers are required, how long they are required for and making sure that fruit doesn’t go rotten because it falls on the ground or can’t be picked and is left on the trees. The important thing is that we get the work done. Let’s see what unfolds, how it unfolds and make sure in the future we have the right visa arrangements in place to satisfy all concerns.
FIONA WYLLIE:
So you haven’t ruled that out for the future?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Again I say, let’s see how this season unfolds. Let’s see what transpires and how many workers we can get in and from where we can get them; let’s see what happened in that regard. We can look at the future in the future.
FIONA WYLLIE:
That’s the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack talking about the changes to visas.