asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, in writing, on 25 November 2019:

In respect of the Seasonal Worker Program administered by the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, for each of the financial years from 2013-14 to 2018-19, how many seasonal workers participated in the program by: (a) nationality; (b) occupation at the Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations 4 digit level; (c) the sponsoring employers' industry subsector at the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 4 digit level; and (d) location of the sponsoring employer at Statistical Area Level 4.

The Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

(a) Seasonal workers participation in the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) by nationality

Table 1 represents the number of subclass 416 and 403 visas issued under the SWP from 2013–14 to 2018–19 by the country of citizenship.

a) Source: Department of Home Affairs, 2019 (BR0146.04)

b) Note 1: Seasonal Worker Programme includes visa subclass 416 and subclass 403 under the Seasonal Worker Programme

c) Note 2: Excludes subclass 416 visas granted under the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme

d) Note 3: Figures are from a dynamic source as reported on 30 November 2019 and are subject to variations.

(b) and (c) Seasonal workers occupation and industry sub-sector

The Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business does not collect SWP data by occupation at the Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations 4 digit level and the sponsoring employers' industry subsector at the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 4 digit level.

Table 2 provides the number of approved places for seasonal workers by eligible industry under

the SWP from 2013–14 to 2018–19.

* The department approves SWP places based on the requests from the Approved Employers .

The number of SWP places ultimately filled depends on the availability of workers and the issued visas.

Note: The number of SWP approved places does not align with the numbers of issued visas each financial year, as they are separate processes subject to different timing and workers ' availability.

(d) Location of the sponsoring employers

The Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business does not collect the data on location of the sponsoring employers at Statistical Area Level 4 level (SA4). Around one third of SWP approved employers are labour hire firms/contractors that operate across the states and/or nationally. In addition, some growers have farms in different SA4 locations. However, SWP data is available for approved places for seasonal workers at the SA4 level as per Table 3.

Table 3 provides a breakdown of SWP approved places from 2013–14 to 2018–19 by location at SA4 level.

* The department approves SWP places based on the requests from the Approved Employers .

The number of SWP places ultimately filled depends on the availability of workers and the issued visas.

Note: The number of SWP approved places does not align with the numbers of issued visas each financial year, as they are separate processes subject to different timing and workers ' availability.