Labor’s immigration spokeswoman Kristina Keneally is calling for restrictions on temporary migration in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to “put Australians First”. But the horticulture industry is a sign of why it might not be as simple as tightening borders.
Australia’s fruit and vegetable sector is highly dependent on cheap, often underpaid and undocumented migrant labourers. As Crikey reported yesterday, many of these workers are worried unsafe working and living conditions put them at risk of infection.
But with global instability, tightening borders and a lack of movement, Australia’s dependence on these workers could be tested and deepened
Without working holiday makers
It isn’t just undocumented workers who pick Australia’s fruit. Foreigners on working holiday visas are described as the “backbone” of Australia’s horticulture industry. But that reliance could be tested through 2020, as travel restrictions stop workers coming to Australia.
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Joanna Howe, an associate professor of labour law at the University of Adelaide, says that with travel restrictions, growers won’t be able to access a big chunk of their regular workforce over the crucial summer harvest period.
“There’s going to be a real crisis for the horticulture industry,” Howe says.
Just what will that shortage in the industry look like? Fortunately, we haven’t seen it kick in yet, says Emma Germano, vice president of the Victorian Farmers’ Federation. So far, there’s been a stream of backpackers and other foreign workers leaving behind jobs in closed-down cafes and bars to work on farms.
The decision to relax restrictions on working holiday visa holders and allow extensions for those in industries like agriculture has also put potential labour shortages at bay. But without figures on how many working holiday visa holders have left the country, why won’t yet know whether we’ll have an undersupply once it hits peak season.
Can we survive without migrants?
But at least some elements in the federal opposition party think the number of temporary immigrants in Australia is too high, and want an overhaul of the system after the pandemic.
“Our economic recovery must help all Australians get back on their feet, and to do that we need a migration program that puts Australian workers first” Keneally wrote in a controversial op-ed.
Keneally’s pivot on immigration, which came without full cabinet support is a sign of contentious debates within the Labor movement. Labor MP Anne Aly expressed discomfort with immigrant-blaming rhetoric, while former NSW Premier Bob Carr likened it to dog-whistling. While Keneally appeared to get some tentative support from ACTU secretary Sally McManus, other unions came out against her stance.
The horticulture sector, which depends greatly on both working holiday visa holders and undocumented migrants, suggests it isn’t quite as simple as replacing foreign labor with unemployed domestic workers.
Germano says the idea that migrants are taking Australian jobs is untrue. Instead, most Australians just don’t want to head to the regions and work in horticulture.
And while Keneally suggests that many temporary workers are underpaid, it’s unclear whether migration restrictions will fix issues around rampant exploitation of undocumented workers in the horticulture industry.
“There are only two ways to fix this problem,” Germano says.
“One of them is to give undocumented migrants status resolution and create a legitimate stream for those people to work in the country. The other is to round them up and send them home.”
Germano says she’s pushed hard to regularise migration, and develop an agricultural visa for workers in Australia, but the Coalition isn’t interested.
“The government knows this is going on, and all they do is send Border Force around, which is more of a PR activity than meaningful enforcement.”
Howe suggests the pandemic could give Australia an opportunity to finally come to terms with the depths of its reliance on undocumented labour, and provide pathways to regular visa status for these workers.
Either way, the pandemic and changes to global mobility will pose serious problems for Australian horticulture — problems that will need to be solved by more than just tighter borders.
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Call me crazy but how about Australians start getting used to paying decent prices for fruit and veg, supermarkets stop ripping off producers so they can pay a decent wage and Australians start realising sometimes you have to leave the big smoke for a job!
Getting fruit and vegie pickers has long been a problem, partly because the picking often happens away from large population centres where there could be a pool of willing workers. An agriculture visa or a seasonal Pacific worker visa has long been advocated and sounds like a good Idea providing the workers’ pay and conditions are reasonable and enforced, and not entrusted to shonky labour hire companies
And miserable farmers…
I feel we should be giving priority to our Pacific neighbours through a Pacific worker visa, with decent conditions and repatriated wages that help lift the living standards of those neighbours.
Instead, far too many are arriving by air from elsewhere, and claiming ‘protection visas’, via blatant rackets that our ‘stop the boats’ government and Peter Dutton seem incapable of stopping. But, probably, ‘seem’ is the operative word. Gotta be ‘business friendly’ and keep pleasing the donors with a guaranteed stream of cheap exploitable labour.
How do they know Australians wouldn’t move to the bush for decent pay and conditions?
A lot of the work is seasonal and it is difficult to attract people. Whether the industry could attract more people if the wages were higher and the accommodation good is another matter and we would have to accept that we pay more for fruit and vegies.
In fact the Federal Government used to produce a very thick booklet for working holidaymakers which gave details of all the different horticultural jobs in each state and in each season. I don’t know whether it is still produced.
What proportion of temporary visas are for seasonal agricultural work? It’s obviously a special case.
I am no fan of Kristina Keneally but, predictably, she has become the umpteenth victim of vitriol for suggesting we should examine the factual outcomes resulting from high levels of both permanent and temporary immigration.
Facts, statistically measurable, and the resultant outcomes for Australian citizens from all backgrounds. Not immigrant-blaming rhetoric, or dog-whistling (and who still listens to that shameless old show pony Carr who promoted the criminals who destroyed Labor in NSW, anyway?), but facts.
Why is our political and business class so afraid to debate facts?
It is regrettable that it is not possible to discuss levels of temporary and permanent migration without being accused of playing the race or the economy card. It is possible to have a country and ethnically diverse program but with smaller numbers, numbers that can be accommodated without the major stress on infrastructure. Australia used to have a program like that until Howard brought in the 457 visa specifically to undercut Australian wages and until universities were forced to rely on overseas students to survive rather than having an overseas student program which focusses on the 2-way educational, cultural, trade and diplomatic benefits of having overseas students. Other programs like the working holidaymaker program have been debased as well in the quest for cheap labour rather than giving the holidaymakers an enjoyable holiday and work experience.