The labour shortage affecting agriculture has been a sticking point between federal and state governments.
And now in a fresh twist it has become apparent it's actually a federal issue that's holding up the process.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said in Kempsey last week that there were 25,000 Pacific Island workers 'literally sitting on a tarmac' waiting for state's to approve (The Land reported on December 9).
Related reading: Ag's labour shortage blame game
The day before Mr Littleproud made that statement, a plane from Samoa was not full due to issues at the departure country.
The Land understands the flight that left Samoa on December 7 was supposed to carry 180 workers to head to the Australian meat processing sector. But instead the flight had 140 passengers due to a lack of Australian resources on the ground.
It is also understood that in the 24 hours before the flight was to depart 100 visa applications were fast-tracked for approval.
With the previous argument of NSW quarantine facilities now a mute point with visa holders able to go directly to the farm they will be working on, it appears the only hold up is the visa approval for Pacific workers that is signed off by the federal government.
NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said NSW was ready and willing to receive all workers who were fully vaccinated and approved by the Commonwealth Government.
"We need every plane to be full to ensure our ag sector has the support it needs as it continues to recover after years of drought, floods, mice and COVID-19," Mr Marshall said.
"Every empty seat on a plane due to visa administration issues is one less worker to help pick our crop, fill the bins or to butcher our meat, something our industry can't afford"
Ministers Littleproud's office referred the matter to Federal International Development and Pacific Minister Zed Seselja who said more than 15,500 Pacific workers had arrived in Australia since the government's decision to recommence Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) in August 2020.
Under the PALM scheme, Mr Seselja said a record 724 workers arrived last week, and there were nearly 19,000 Pacific and Timorese workers currently in Australia, the largest number ever.
Mr Seselja said there were 55,000 workers in the work ready pool, with at least 25,000 of these fully vaccinated. He added Australia had provided more than 2.4 million COVID-19 vaccines to nine Pacific Island countries, accounting for around 46 per cent of all vaccine deliveries to these countries (December 10). Australia has committed to provide up to 15 million doses to Pacific countries.
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