THE ongoing labour shortage in the bush will be atop the agenda when the East Coast Labour Taskforce meets on Friday.
Made up of all the agriculture ministers from NSW, Queensland and Victoria, as well as representatives of the industry's peak bodies, the shortfall of 10,000 workers ahead of what is expected to be a bumper harvest will dominate conversation.
High on the taskforce's agenda will be giving certainty to workers looking to cross the border between NSW and Queensland during harvest.
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The discussions come after Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unveiled the state's COVID-vaccination plan earlier this week, which included allowing travellers from hotspot areas into the sunshine state, provided they were fully vaccinated, once the state hits the 80 per cent double vaccination mark, which is expected to be around December 17.
"We need to make sure in accordance with the agricultural workers code, which was signed by every state government, that border closures don't impact the free movement of the workforce," NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshalll said.
"It will certainly be discussed at this Friday's meeting and we will be exploring what we can do to help give those workers, regardless of what job they do, more clarity."
The meeting comes after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced last Friday that fully vaccinated overseas travellers would not have to quarantine upon entering NSW, only for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to muddy the waters later that day by saying only approved travellers would be allowed to skip quarantine.
However, Mr Marshall doubled down on the state government's commitment to scrap quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers, saying agricultural workers had always been approved.
"We don't stamp visas, the Commonwealth does that, the only thing we control is quarantine and we are removing quarantine for anyone who arrives into NSW that is fully vaccinated," he said.
"The state government has removed every single barrier and I want to make sure the federal government, which at the drop of a hat likes to bash the state governments, actually live up to their end of the bargain and not restrict the approval of visas."
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Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
