Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has welcomed Labor’s commitment to honour the Vietnam Ag Visa agreement.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has welcomed news that local farmers will be able to hire workers from Vietnam to help fill the significant labour shortage facing the Parkes electorate.
Labor has confirmed it will honour the Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam, which was established before the Federal Election as part of the former Coalition Government’s Agriculture Visa.
During Senate Estimates, the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee heard the visa would be given another name but, importantly, it was being honoured.
Mr Coulton said this is a win for the Parkes electorate and the nation.
“The workforce shortage is one of the biggest issues currently facing the Parkes electorate, with farmers in particular struggling to find the workers needed to harvest their crops,” Mr Coulton said.
“Allowing workers from Vietnam to come to Australia on what was previously known as the ‘Ag Visa’ will help fill some of those critical jobs, which in turn will help to boost our food supply and provide relief to shoppers at the supermarket.
“This is a good outcome, made possible by the hard work of The Nationals, and I’m pleased the Labor Government will honour the Australian Ag Visa agreement.”
The Ag Visa was designed to supplement the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme for workers from southeast Asia.
Since June, the PALM Scheme has brought in just 10,800 workers.
Mr Coulton urged the Labor Government to reinstate the Ag Visa, to help ease the cost of living crisis, rather than rely on the PALM Scheme, which provides visas for workers from just nine Pacific islands and Timor-Leste.
“Scrapping the Ag Visa was a terrible move by Labor and is costing Australians more at the checkout when they pay for their groceries,” Mr Coulton said.
“When the supply of food goes down, the cost goes up.
“Australia needs 172,000 workers to get product from the paddock to the plate right now and the PALM Scheme will not be able to bring them in.
“Our farmers need certainty around their workforce. We need to do all we can to relieve the workforce shortages so farmers can have the confidence to plant full crops for future seasons.
“I urge Labor to help our farmers and our families and find practical solutions. The PALM Scheme will only continue to increase food prices because farmers can’t get the workers they desperately need.”