The Australia Workers Union, ACTU and the Federal Government have been slammed by Australian fruit growers for making changes to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme.
The National Farmers’ Federation and Citrus Australia have joined with fruit growers and the opposition in criticising the government’s new changes to the scheme after only 10 days of consultation.
Under the PALM scheme, workers from Pacific Island nations and Timor-Leste are employed on farms during fruit picking seasons for three months.
Recent changes to the scheme include the requirement for Pacific workers to be given a minimum of 30 hours and $200 per week, and scraps the previous flexibility of averaging the minimum work across eight weeks.
Fruit growers claim the scheme does not recognise the influence of regular weekly rain on harvests, which can limit working hours to less than 30.
Citrus Australia said the PALM scheme was “set to plummet” in popularity with Australia’s horticulture industry.
Citrus Australia chief executive officer Nathan Hancock said the citrus industry had long been supporters of the PALM scheme in all its forms, but the recent changes reflected a disconnection due to the multiple ministries managing the scheme.
“These latest changes, especially the requirement for a guarantee of a minimum 30 hours per week, shows the government has zero understanding of the realities of farm work and the impact that weather can have on the picking and packing of fresh produce,” Mr Hancock said.
The scheme is being run by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Federal Industrial Relations Minister Pat Conroy and Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.
Further criticism of the scheme includes ‘buck passing’ between the three ministries involved.
The NFF has accused the ACTU of effectively “running the show” and damaging ties with the Pacific nations involved.
NFF Horticulture Council spokesperson Rachel Chambers said it was “increasingly clear’’ that ministers were not working together to ensure long-term interests were being recognised.
“Farmers are frustrated that no senior minister is effectively accountable and taking responsibility for fixing the PALM,” Ms Chambers said.
“Instead, we have finger pointing across portfolios, and farmers and Pacific nations both becoming increasingly dissatisfied.
“Instead of the government stamping out rogue employers, the lazy approach here has been to increase the administrative burden on compliant employers.”
The AWU has welcomed the changes to the PALM scheme, which it claims it has been campaigning long and hard for.
A spokesperson from the AWU said the threat of rain jeopardising the minimum 30-hour requirement was “hypothetical”.
The spokesperson said there was “well-weighted” data that rainfall did not fall for extended periods during harvest seasons and there was no need to average the work hours requirement across a long picking season.
“It is not an issue,” the spokesperson said.
Citrus Australia said that, because citrus are a winter crop which cannot be harvested wet, growers will be in breach of the scheme because they can’t offer the required minimum.
“This can only have an inflationary effect on the cost of food as pickers are paid for not picking the fruit because it’s rained and then again for picking it too,” Mr Hancock said.
“This government has too many agendas it is trying to satisfy and none of them recognise that the horticulture industry will be impacted the most by these changes.”
The Senate Estimates Committee was told last week that the new scheme had the potential of employing just 42,000 workers.
According to the NFF, the industry will require an additional 172,000 workers.
Federal Shadow Agriculture Minister David Littleproud described the new rules as “near impossible”.
“Common sense tells you the costs on our farmers created by Labor will result in increased costs on food for families,” Mr Littleproud said.
Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell said the new rules risked more growers leaving the scheme.
“These changes make it unworkable,” Mr Birrell said.
“There’s rain, there’s all sorts of things and our fruit farmers just had their toughest year yet.
“What we had in the past worked very well.
“This is a classic example of people who don’t understand all things agricultural.”
A spokesperson for Mr Conroy referred Country News to Mr Burke’s office.
Mr Burke and the ACTU did not respond to questions.