Labor tells farmers upset about backpacker shortages to recruit Pacific islanders

Farmers worried about recruiting enough backpackers to pick their fruit and harvest other crops under an immigration crackdown should hire unskilled and semi-skilled labourers from the Pacific islands and Timor-Leste, an Albanese Government minister said today.

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said she did not accept warnings from agricultural groups that the changes announced yesterday could trigger a labour shortage in country areas and drive up food prices.

She said farmers worried about losing access to working holidaymakers — typically European backpackers who will have to enter a lottery to extend their stays — should apply for a little-known federal program known as PALM, for the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme.

“I don’t accept the premise of what’s being put forward,” Ms Rishworth told the ABC. “We have taken a responsible approach to migration; a sustainable approach to migration.

“Backpackers in their second and third year will have to work in regional areas. There is also a number of other places that people can get agricultural workers, and I’d point to the PALM scheme.”

She was unable to say whether the government has undertaken modelling to determine what the effect would be on wages.

Nationals MP Michael McCormack said the agriculture sector was “desperately worried” by Labor’s cuts which could “cripple” regional Australia. “There will be fruit that’s just left to rot on the vine, on the trees, and falling to the ground,” he told News24.

The Coalition wants to reduce net overseas migration more than the government.

The suggestion farmers hire short-term workers from nine Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste appeared to be at odds with the government’s intention to cut the large number of temporary migrants, also known as guest workers.

Mr Burke told the Nine newspapers this week he was “very worried about” the number of temporary migrants, who have exceeded 3 million, or 16 per cent of the workforce.

Despite promising to prioritise agriculture and fisheries for skilled-worker visas, the government is coming under huge pressure from the farming lobby over Thursday’s changes.

National Farmers’ Federation President Hamish McIntyre said farmers were furious the government had slowed processing of Working Holiday Maker visas from a few days to three months.

“This is a low blow for farmers and the businesses that produce Australia’s food and fibre,” he said.

“Working Holiday Makers fill about one in seven farm jobs making them central to getting food and fibre produced, harvested, packed and into supermarkets.”