Fruit Growers Under Pressure To Hire Unemployed Australians Instead Of Backpackers

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia has not only seen the number of backpackers coming to our shores plummet but also the number of unemployed Aussies skyrocket.

Loads of Australians have lost their job for whatever reason since restrictions were introduced. Even though some rules have been relaxed in some areas, businesses have struggled to recoup losses.

Fruit growers around the country traditionally depend on a steady flow of backpackers streaming into regional areas to get an extra year added to their work and holiday visa.

Because there's a massive gap in the number of international arrivals, fruit producers are under pressure from unions to give unemployed Australians a job picking the latest yield.

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The Australian Workers' Union, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and the Transport Workers' Union are leading the calls for Australian producers to rely on unemployed locals rather than backpackers.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton says we need to be putting Aussies to work.

He said: "Farmers need to attract Australians back into the horticulture workforce. The concept that Australians don't want this work isn't just wrong, it's offensive. All work is dignified and should be respected."

That was off the back of Agriculture Minister David Littleproud saying Australians had a 'real aversion' to go and pick fruit. He added that the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments made it difficult to recruit unemployed Aussies out to areas where work is desperately needed.

Mr Walton added that the use of backpackers for work on farms can be rife with problems, including exploitation.

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"There are farmers who are doing the right thing by their employees; if they can pay a fair wage and treat their workers with respect, why can't everyone?" he said.

The National Farmers Federation kicked off a recruitment campaign recently and were advertising some jobs that could earn people up to $1,000 per week.

However, the NFF says that the border restrictions on some states and territories as well as people's ability to up and move rural or regional means there won't be enough unemployed Aussies to plug the gap left by backpackers.

There are usually around 130,000 people on the holidaymaker visa who are employed in the sector on an average year. The coronavirus pandemic has caused that number to drop by 50,000.

Topics: News, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie