There is a short-term solution to the current shearer shortage, which is generally being ignored by those in a position to help alleviate the pressure being felt by wool producers, wool brokers and peak bodies within the industry - importing shearers from other wool growing nations.
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The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the shortage of skilled labourers in the wool harvesting industry.
But advocacy groups such as Wool Producers Australia and it's CEO Jo Hall have been investigating ways to solve this problem.
One such solution was to make use of the skilled workers of other wool producing countries.
Ms Hall said getting a visa had been a major stumbling block for these workers to enter the country.
"Since 2020, we have been advocating for easier visa pathways for workers in other wool producing countries such as Argentina, Chile, the UK, and South Africa," she said.
"These countries already have workforce-ready, skilled workers which would be an ideal short-term solution to our current shortages.
"However, the difficulties for these workers in obtaining a visa is proving too difficult for them to work here."
Ms Hall said schemes focused on utilising labour companies to fill regional work shortages was not a suitable option for wool harvesting.
"One of the issues is the focus policies like the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, which is very reliant upon labour companies to find workers for specific jobs," she said.
"There is very limited application for the wool harvesting industry under this scheme.
"We have found there is a lack of understanding of the wool harvesting industry by government."
To help counteract this lack of understanding, the industry set up the National Wool Training Advisory Group, which consists of peak industry bodies including Shearing Contractors Association of Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, Australian Wool Exchange, National Council of Wool Selling Brokers and Wool Producers Australia.
The group met in February to form a plan on advocacy on the visa issue.
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Ms Hall says the industry is working at a long-term solution but is in desperate need of a short-term fix.
"The industry is conducting a lot of training at the moment which is great for long-term," she said.
"But for a short to medium-term solution, we believe that can be done by supplementing our workforce with the work-ready pool of labour from skilled workers overseas."
Ms Hall said the issue had been raised with Department of Agriculture and Minister Murray Watt, with no change to conditions as yet.
"There are more conversations to be had and more work to be done," Ms Hall said.
Jemalong Wool managing director Rowan Woods said that those outside the industry need to recognise wool harvesting as a trade.
"Immigration hurdles at the moment are not conducive to skilled wool harvesters coming to Australia," he said.
"Part of that is the failure to recognise shearing as a trade.
"Australia could really benefit from skilled shearers from overseas having downtime during our busy periods."
Mr Woods said the shearer shortage was developing into a much bigger issue.
"People are going out of wool growing," he said.
"It is a very worrying trend. We are getting down to the true believers in wool. Some growers are saying it is too hard to get shearers so they are moving into meat sheep instead."
A spokesperson from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said labour shortage was a widespread problem.
"The government is committed to working with and supporting the Australian agriculture industry address its ongoing workforce shortages including those in the shearing sector," the spokesperson said. "There are a number of visa pathways agricultural businesses can use to access migrant workers, including shearers.
"The visa pathways available to the agriculture industry include the PALM scheme, Working Holiday Makers, sponsored skilled visas, temporary skill shortage visas and industry labour agreements.
"The government is improving and expanding the PALM scheme to support farm businesses access overseas workers, with over 36,000 workers in the country as at February 28.
"A tripartite agricultural workforce working group has been established to pursue solutions to better skill, attract, protect, and retain workers in the agriculture and processing sectors.
"The group includes representatives from government, employer groups and unions, and has met four times since late October 2022."
When asked about the possibility of a similar program to the PALM Scheme being implemented to fast track the availability of South American shearers, the spokesperson said the question needed to be directed to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
