Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison-Joyce government has responded to the significant labour challenges faced by our agricultural industries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it is securing the industry's future by providing long-term access to a reliable workforce?

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Nicholls for his question and for his fierce and passionate support for his producers in the Shepparton area in particular, which is a rich agricultural area. Historically, Australian agriculture has relied heavily on overseas workers to undertake seasonal work. That has been done through the Working Holiday Maker program, and before COVID hit there were around 160,000 of them. It has gone down to fewer than 30,000—we're losing about 2,000 a month. We've also instituted the Pacific Labour Scheme and the Seasonal Worker Program, which have brought Pacific workers into this country to take up the slack.

As we faced the challenges that COVID presented to agriculture in March last year, we proudly told those who were here via the Working Holiday Maker program and those Pacific schemes that, if they worked in agriculture, they could stay another 12 months. We made agriculture an essential service and ensured that those people that were committed to working in our agriculture sector could stay longer. We also worked with the states. When they asked us to have a nationally coordinated approach, we responded. We created the Agriculture Workers Code. It was great to have all these people here, but we needed to move them across state borders as the seasons changed from north to south, and back up as the seasons changed. Unfortunately, only three states wouldn't sign up to that. Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania were not prepared to sign up to it, but the rest were, and that provided some continuity.

Then, as we became aware of how to tackle COVID with vaccination and isolation, we worked with our Pacific family to continue to reopen the PLS and SWP. We were able to pre-vet 25,000 men and women from 10 Pacific nations so they were ready to come into this country. In December the Prime Minister, through national cabinet, cut the red tape. He said to the premiers that we would stamp the visas once the premiers and chief health officers in each individual jurisdiction gave the health orders in which those workers should quarantine. We said: 'This was your remit. We will get out of your way. We will stamp the visas and we will let them in.' To date, 12½ thousand of those have come in, and we are continuing to work with the states around quarantine arrangements to make sure that they prioritise agriculture workers along with bringing our Australians home.

This year, proudly, as a core principle of the National Party, we were able to secure an agricultural visa. That's about not just seasonal workers but also skilled and semi-skilled workers. This is the biggest structural change to the agriculture workforce in our nation's history. This is about bringing the next generation of migrants to regional Australia and to agriculture to grow it. This is about giving them a pathway to permanent residency. This is about making sure that we have not a transient labour force but one that wants to live in regional Australia and be part of it. Today, the Indonesian government announced that it is one of the four nations that we are working with around that process. One of our nearest and dearest neighbours is working with us to make sure it is part of our solution and part of regional Australia's future. To the member for Nicholls and Mallee and all those who have fought so hard, I thank you for your hard work.