❓ Hon Peter Collier asks the Minister for Agriculture and Food to consider an advertising campaign targeting unemployed city and town residents to fill seasonal agricultural jobs due to border closures. The Minister responds by outlining existing initiatives and future plans to address the worker shortage.
AnsweredQoN 719Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
AGRICULTURE — EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
719. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
This question without notice of
which some notice was given is asked on behalf of Hon Jim Chown, who is away on
urgent parliamentary business.
Considering that the state border is
now closed for an indefinite period and seasonal agricultural workers are
unable to access the state without being subject to a self-funded quarantine
process, would the government consider funding and initiating an advertising
campaign targeted at city and town-based unemployed persons to inform them of
the many interesting and financially rewarding job prospects available in the
agricultural region, especially for the upcoming harvest season?
719. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
This question without notice of
which some notice was given is asked on behalf of Hon Jim Chown, who is away on
urgent parliamentary business.
Considering that the state border is
now closed for an indefinite period and seasonal agricultural workers are
unable to access the state without being subject to a self-funded quarantine
process, would the government consider funding and initiating an advertising
campaign targeted at city and town-based unemployed persons to inform them of
the many interesting and financially rewarding job prospects available in the
agricultural region, especially for the upcoming harvest season?
AnswerView source ↗
I am sure the member, who is very
active, is aware that we have been on the case in this matter since March. We
recognised very early on in the process that we would have a potential looming
shortfall of agricultural workers once the international borders were closed.
We have been working assiduously with industry to develop local solutions. We
have made it very clear that the external introduction of international workers
is not going to be possible for the coming season.
We have funded the Jobs in WA Food
and Ag program, which includes free use of job-matching platform Studium for WA agrifood businesses. More than 10 900
jobseekers and 142 employers, including 54 agricultural businesses , have registered on the platform, and we have seen
this number steadily increase over the last month as a result of our promotion through social media. The number of jobs being offered by each
employer varies from one to seven in the grains sector through to 150 to 300
for horticultural work. We will be ramping up promotional activities in various
media over the coming weeks to get more Western Australian jobseekers to look
at the ag industry.
We are hearing some fantastic
stories from young Western Australians who have secured permanent work in the
horticultural sector, and we have even connected displaced pilots to broadacre
farms to operate headers for the season ahead. We have also recognised the need
for more skilled labour ahead of this year's harvest.
Last
week, with Minister Ellery, we announced a new fee-free broadacre harvest
operations short course at Muresk Institute to meet the industry's
need for more skilled workers. We observed, in particular, the only header simulator in Western Australia, which is there to
really fast-track that training. This is in addition to the six subsidised or free TAFE courses in agriculture that we have introduced, including the free
introduction to agriculture course, focused on machinery operation and farm
safety, which started last month.
active, is aware that we have been on the case in this matter since March. We
recognised very early on in the process that we would have a potential looming
shortfall of agricultural workers once the international borders were closed.
We have been working assiduously with industry to develop local solutions. We
have made it very clear that the external introduction of international workers
is not going to be possible for the coming season.
We have funded the Jobs in WA Food
and Ag program, which includes free use of job-matching platform Studium for WA agrifood businesses. More than 10 900
jobseekers and 142 employers, including 54 agricultural businesses , have registered on the platform, and we have seen
this number steadily increase over the last month as a result of our promotion through social media. The number of jobs being offered by each
employer varies from one to seven in the grains sector through to 150 to 300
for horticultural work. We will be ramping up promotional activities in various
media over the coming weeks to get more Western Australian jobseekers to look
at the ag industry.
We are hearing some fantastic
stories from young Western Australians who have secured permanent work in the
horticultural sector, and we have even connected displaced pilots to broadacre
farms to operate headers for the season ahead. We have also recognised the need
for more skilled labour ahead of this year's harvest.
Last
week, with Minister Ellery, we announced a new fee-free broadacre harvest
operations short course at Muresk Institute to meet the industry's
need for more skilled workers. We observed, in particular, the only header simulator in Western Australia, which is there to
really fast-track that training. This is in addition to the six subsidised or free TAFE courses in agriculture that we have introduced, including the free
introduction to agriculture course, focused on machinery operation and farm
safety, which started last month.
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