FRUIT Growers Victoria (FGV) and the Victorian Nationals have slammed a call from a coalition of unions to scrap the national backpacker fruit-picking program.
The Retail Supply Chain Alliance, made up of the Australian Workers Union, Transport Workers Union and retail union SDA, has argued backpackers working on a Working Holiday Maker visa are often underpaid, and the scheme should be dropped to attract unemployed Australians.
Mooroopna-based FGV’s grower services manager, Michael Crisera, said working holiday makers made up 50-80 percent of pickers during harvest in the Goulburn Valley.
“We need to do all we can to keep this labour option in place,” he said.
“If there are not enough workers to pick fruit at the right time, there is a risk that fruit will be left to rot on the trees.”
Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh said the visa was a “critical source of workforce for farmers” and added an end to the Working Holiday Maker Visa could push up the price of fruit and vegetables.
The union call comes at a time when regular international arrivals have halted and unemployment is on the rise.
Orchardists are hoping to gather enough workers through a combination of drawing on backpackers still in the country and a potential scheme like that seen in the NT which brought in workers from Vanuatu to pick mangoes.
According to Mr Crisera, another option is a resumption of the 2018 Seasonal Work Incentives Trial, where Australians on government benefits could earn up to $5000 without affecting their payments.
