Dairy visa change hopefully annoying rather than catastrophic
Increased challenge recruiting workers from overseas
WHILE Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) has come out swinging over a government move it says will further delay processing visas for dairy workers, a local expert in work visas believes the situation, while inconvenient, shouldn’t be dire unless workers needing visas are required urgently and can’t be found within Australia.
ADF President Ben Bennett said the change removed the previous priority given to employer-sponsored skilled visa applications for regional Australia, stressing that the timing is particularly difficult as many dairy regions move through peak calving and production periods.
“When workers are missing, farmers and existing staff carry the load, and that means longer hours, more fatigue, greater workplace safety risks and added pressure on animal care and farm productivity,” Mr Bennett said.
ADF argues the Albanese Government is failing to support its own initiatives in terms of food security.
“Months after the Federal Government committed to a national food security strategy, a policy decision by Immigration Minister Tony Burke is eroding Australia’s ability to produce its own dairy foods,” ADF’s press release declared.
“Ministerial Direction 119, signed by Minister Burke took effect on 25 July, and changed the processing priorities for skilled visas used by dairy farmers, including the 482, 186, 494 (visas) and through the Dairy Industry Labour Agreement,” it elaborated.
Donna Caneleo runs local business Vital Migration Australia helping employers, including farmers, to fill important positions and assisting people to obtain working rights in Australia, and had already been approached by a concerned South Gippsland dairy farmer before being contacted by Sentinel-Times.
She confirmed the recent change has removed the priority processing previously given to regional skilled visa applicants, and that there has been a shift in the order in which various occupations are prioritised.
“Ministerial Direction 119 introduced significant changes to visa processing priorities, whereby processing of skilled visas is now based on both occupation type and location of the applicant at the time of application; it only affects the order and timeframe of processing, not the eligibility requirements,” she said.
Ms Caneleo remarked there is now an emphasis on prioritising onshore visa applicants as opposed to those applying from overseas, and she encourages dairy farmers to try to find staff who are already in Australia.
That’s something she said tends to be the case for most of her dairy visa applicants, explaining, “Often, they’re working in Australia as backpackers, then farmers want to sponsor them on a longer-term visa.”
“If people can still come to Australia as working holiday makers, they’re here, they find a job and apply for a visa sponsored by a farmer; they can potentially start working and stay working for that farmer while they wait for their visa,” Ms Caneleo said.
“My experience is that bringing in overseas workers is more common in horticulture, like fruit picking, sometimes meat processing, but many dairy farmers do rely on offshore skilled workers and have secured quality, long-term employees directly from overseas.”
Any government move to reduce the number of backpackers allowed to come into Australia on Working Holiday Visas would result in farmers starting to suffer Ms Caneleo believes, but there is no current indication that will occur.
