Senate debates

Monday, 23 August 2021

Questions without Notice

Australian Agriculture Visa

2:42 pm

Photo of Perin DaveyPerin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, Senator McKenzie. Minister, following today's announcement about the Australian agriculture visa, can you, please, inform how our government is supporting our agricultural industry and regional communities through the establishment of this visa?

Photo of Bridget McKenzieBridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Davey, for your question. As the regional specialists, the Nationals are extremely proud to be part of a government that unashamedly backs our primary industry. We know that agriculture needs workers. It needs workers now and will well into the future. Today our government has announced further details outlining the establishment of the Australian agriculture visa. It's a big win for farmers; it's a big win for rural communities who rely on agriculture; and it is a big win for the state of New South Wales and the rice industry. This is one of the biggest structural reforms in the history of our agricultural sector. Farmers have been calling for it and we, as a government, have delivered on it. The important new visa will support Australian farmers now and into the future by providing a wider pool of workers to help meet increasing seasonal workforce demands.

The visa will be available to skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers right across the agriculture sector, including meat processing, the fishing industry, the forestry industry, the dairy industry and horticulture. The initial regulatory framework implementing this visa will be in place by the end of September, with full implementation of the demand-driven visa category within three years. The ag visa, over time, will respond to systemic workforce shortages and was developed as a result of the changes to the Working Holiday Maker Program, which was developed as part of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement. It will also include a pathway to permanent residency, potentially giving the workers who help get the crops off the opportunity to actually settle permanently in regional Australia with us. Importantly, workers under the visas will be covered by the same workplace laws, entitlements and protections as Australian citizens.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting

Photo of Scott RyanScott Ryan (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Order on my left.

Photo of Bridget McKenzieBridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Absolutely, regional Australia will lead our nation's recovery from COVID-19, and this visa will help us have the skilled workforce we need.

Photo of Scott RyanScott Ryan (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Senator Davey, a supplementary question?

2:44 pm

Photo of Perin DaveyPerin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. This is not the only example of what we're doing to support our agricultural industries address the current workforce shortages. Can you outline the range of programs we've implemented to do this?

2:45 pm

Photo of Bridget McKenzieBridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

The new agriculture visa builds on a number of other measures our government has delivered. In September last year we restarted Pacific labour mobility programs. Since the restart over 10,000 workers have arrived from the Pacific and Timor-Leste. These Pacific workers have been invaluable to our agriculture sector and will continue to be the mainstay of our overseas agricultural workforce well into the future.

We'll also be doubling the number of Pacific workers in Australia, with an extra 12½ thousand people to be recruited by March 2022. We have committed $29.8 million to fund initiatives to improve employment opportunities in the ag sector, including attracting domestic workforce, ensuring we've got incentives to help people—in particular, young people—move to the regions, and it's great to see that over 3,000 people have done that. We've also designed and delivered the Agricultural Workers Code so that workers can cross state borders and get the crops off in time during COVID.

Photo of Scott RyanScott Ryan (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Senator Davey, a final supplementary question?

2:46 pm

Photo of Perin DaveyPerin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Minister, can you please explain the barriers our farmers and regional communities face in addressing their workforce shortages?

Photo of Bridget McKenzieBridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes, I can. The biggest barrier for farmers and regional communities is the Australian Labor Party. They have not met a farm, a farmer or a primary industry that they don't want to shut down tomorrow—in partnership with Senator Whish-Wilson and the Greens—whether it is our fantastic fishing industry or our magnificent, sustainable hardwood forestry industry. 'Lock it up and leave it. We don't want any jobs out in rural and regional Australia'—that's the Australian Labor Party. Talk to the live cattle or sheep trade—the Australian Labor Party say 'shut it down'. They just want to wrap up our primary industries in red and green tape; they have no understanding of the contribution they make to our local economies and also our national economy.

One thing we do need to raise in the context of the ag visa is the importance of quarantine systems from our state and territory governments.