Tamworth's Bede Burke not confident seasonal worker program can replace UK backpackers

As part of the new Australia-UK free trade agreement, which includes the removal of tariffs on beef, lamb and sugar, backpackers will no longer be required to complete 88 days of agricultural work after arriving.

To address the shortage of workers that would create, the government then announced a new agriculture visa would be made available to those in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines.

However, Bede Burke said seasonal workers from South-East Asia cannot replace UK backpackers for a number of reasons, among them accommodation and language issues.

"It's not until you get your true backpackers where they can put up wherever they go and arrange accommodation wherever they go," he said.

"We largely need English-speaking people out here, so if they haven't got English at least as their second language, that it can be really problematic."

Mr Burke acknowledged the new visa arrangement could help other parts of the industry though, and said it might suit the likes of poultry abattoir businesses in particular.

And he agreed getting any additional workers into the country could ultimately have an overall positive impact.

READ ALSO:

"We tend to have permanent part-times and permanent casuals, we find that source becomes depleted if the other seasonal workers aren't getting work too," he said.

The Pacific workers program that was announced earlier this year was the model for the new visa scheme, and Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, David Littleproud said it would help prop up many farms across the nation.

"The new seasonal agricultural worker visa would mirror the existing seasonal worker program and will add to the pool of workers available to work on Australian farms," he said.

"Pacific worker programs have and will continue to play a critical role in our agriculture sector and the new visa arrangement will build on the success of these arrangements.

"Like the seasonal worker program, the new visa arrangement will have protections to ensure workers are protected, not subject to exploitation and that the visa is not misused."

Not everybody is convinced though. The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) claims the new program shows a lack of care towards the ASEAN community.

"Johnson rightly told Morrison he needed to scrap the 88-day requirement for Brits to work on Australian farms, because they were being routinely exploited and abused," AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said.

"But now David Littleproud is telling Southeast Asians to come on down for the same treatment. It's shameless, stupid, and immoral."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: