❓ Hon Frank Hough raises concerns about labour shortages in WA's agricultural sector, particularly for the upcoming seeding season. Hon Kim Chance acknowledges the issue, outlines contributing factors, and commits to seeking advice from relevant ministers to address the problem.
AnsweredQoN 71Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
A very small amount of notice has been given of this question. The question was first addressed to the Minister for Consumer and Employment Protection. The bush has a chronic situation with labour on farms, with some 170 to 180 positions being available for which there have been only three applicants. Regional Western Australia cannot attract trainees or experienced labour to assist with this year’s seeding season. The agricultural colleges do not produce enough graduates who will be available for external employment. Young Western Australians do not see country Western Australia as offering viable employment opportunities. The PRESIDENT: I am not quite sure whether that was a question. Hon KIM CHANCE
AnswerView source ↗
The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
The PRESIDENT: I am not quite sure whether that was a question. Hon KIM CHANCE replied : The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied : The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
The PRESIDENT: I am not quite sure whether that was a question. Hon KIM CHANCE replied : The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied : The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
The written question asks what the Government is doing to address this. I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
I was advised prior to question time that this question would be asked. Although the question requires some input from a number of ministers, I apologise for the fact that it has not really found the appropriate home. Now that I have the question, I undertake to seek the advice of my colleague the Minister for Education and Training. I have just been advised by my colleague the Minister for Regional Development that he is also preparing some part of the answer to the question. Therefore, I will be able to inform the member in more detail of what the Government is doing within those two agencies. I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
I accept the points that the member has made; it is a serious problem that has been around for some time. I have been engaged in discussions with a number of people and groups, including the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and the Western Australia Primary Industries Training Council, as well as the Minister for Education and Training and numerous principals of agricultural wings of high schools about precisely this issue. I have also spoken to the principals of agricultural wings of metropolitan high schools. I will not name them in case I get the names wrong. I think they can also form an important part of allowing those young people who now live where the bulk of the population is in the Perth-Fremantle metropolitan area to know that there are some very exciting employment opportunities in the bush. I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
I believe the changes that have created these difficulties are manifold, but there are at least three key factors. The first is that the mining industry has proved to be a more attractive employer than the farming industry over the years. It has grown quite quickly and soaked up much of Western Australia’s limited labour source. The second is the fission that has developed between the urban population and the rural population where there are now very limited familial links, such as those that existed in the 1950s when almost anybody who lived in Perth had an uncle who had a farm in the bush. We have lost that, and in losing that we have lost the relationship that city people had with the country. That is one of the reasons for the separation of the two groups. The third is more critical of the agricultural industry in that it has never really set out to be seen as a good employer in the same way that the mining industry has. It has never paid anywhere near the same kind of salary package to workers that the mining industry has. Consequently it has lost out in the labour market. The gap in the labour market has been filled by imported labour - principally from New Zealand, but more recently from South Africa and Canada. That labour market is drying up, particularly that part that came from New Zealand. Farm wages are improving in New Zealand, particularly for shearers. They are not being attracted to come and work in Western Australia. There are a number of issues. I think there are as many answers as there are problems. I do not want to sound depressing about it. I think we can find the answers. There are some tremendous jobs in the bush that young people in the city would be attracted to, if only they knew about those jobs. Government has an important role to play in introducing the two sectors to talk to each other about how that role can be fulfilled. I concede that I do not think we have done enough in this area. There is a lot to do, and I look forward to discussing that with the honourable member and seeing what we can do to improve things.
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