`Australia Offers Growers Help Managing Workforce Restrictions - Olive Oil Times
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Australia Offers Growers Help Managing Workforce Restrictions

By Lisa Anderson
Apr. 22, 2020 12:26 UTC
Summary Summary

The Australian gov­ern­ment extended visas for for­eign work­ers in agri­cul­ture and food pro­cess­ing dur­ing the Covid-19 cri­sis, requir­ing work­ers to self-iso­late for 14 days when mov­ing to a new region, pro­vid­ing grow­ers access to work­ers within the Pacific Labour Scheme and the Seasonal Worker Programme. The National Farmers’ Federation pres­i­dent expressed grat­i­tude for the visa changes but encour­aged unem­ployed Australians to con­sider farm work, as Virgin Australia pilots have report­edly started work­ing as farm labor­ers due to the pan­demic.

The Australian gov­ern­ment threw farm­ers a life­line ear­lier this month when it announced the exten­sion of visas for for­eign work­ers in agri­cul­ture and food pro­cess­ing dur­ing the Covid-19 cri­sis, but work­ers will still need to self-iso­late for 14 days when mov­ing to a new region.

The exten­sion allows grow­ers access to work­ing trav­el­ers and gives them access to work­ers within the Pacific Labour Scheme, which per­mits Pacific Islanders to work in Australia, and the Seasonal Worker Programme, which autho­rizes Pacific Islanders and Timorese to fill employ­ment gaps that can­not be filled by locals.

The visa changes pro­vide work­ing trav­el­ers in the agri­cul­tural sec­tor an exemp­tion from the restric­tions that lim­its work with an agri­cul­tural employer to six months.

In response to the announce­ment, Australia’s National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) pres­i­dent Fiona Simson expressed her grat­i­tude to the gov­ern­ment for under­stand­ing the impor­tance of for­eign work­ers as farm labor­ers.

See Also:Coronavirus Crisis

Simson pointed out that farm­ers would still pre­fer to employ local work­ers though, and she encour­aged Australians who are unem­ployed to con­sider farm work where pos­si­ble.

Virgin Australia pilots who have lost their jobs due to the coro­n­avirus cri­sis have report­edly started work­ing as farm labor­ers already.

But Simson said Australians are not very inter­ested in farm work at a time when peo­ple want to stay close to their fam­i­lies.

To fur­ther assist the country’s grow­ers and work­ers dur­ing this time, the NFF has devel­oped a Covid-19 Workplace Guide.

The hand­book pro­vides guide­lines on indus­trial rela­tions, hygiene prac­tices, work­ers’ accom­mo­da­tions, quar­an­tine and more.

This resource can be down­loaded from the Australian Olive Association (AOA) web­site, which pro­vides grow­ers with addi­tional resources to man­age Covid-19 chal­lenges.

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