Staff desperation drives international worker solution

FARMERS who previously haven’t considered contracting overseas workers are exploring the possibility, or taking active steps to do so, in order to deal with the current labour shortage.

Attendees at a Leongatha event run by the Local Network Group South Gippsland with sponsorship from the Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) Gippsland, learned more about the process of engaging and supporting overseas workers from Hill End dairy farmer Aubrey Pellett.

He outlined the lengthy process involved in securing workers and getting them to the farm.

So far it has taken about six months, with his two workers expected to arrive within the next couple of months.

It has been a much longer timeframe than Aubrey expected.

While many people view overseas workers as potential cheap labour, Aubrey explained that his new employees will come to Australia as part of the 482 temporary visa scheme, which exists to fill skilled worker shortages.

“It’s not the cheap option,” Aubrey said, explaining extensive efforts were made to find suitable available workers within Australia.

“We will pay the same wages (as for locals) and there are additional costs for visas and recruitment,” he said.

Originally from New Zealand, Aubrey has been dairy farming at Hill End for 20 years, and he and partner Jacqui Morrison are keen to establish more flexibility and improved work life balance.

They attempted to find local workers to enable them to set up a seven-day-a-week milking roster but the recruiting business they used was unable to find anyone suitable.

That prompted them to enlist the services of a recruiting firm that specialises in overseas workers.

“I was impressed by the quality of the people they put forward,” Aubrey said.

He has changed his outlook on staff shortages.

“There is no shortage of people to work on a dairy farm, but it’s just that they don’t live in Australia,” Aubrey said. 

A Filipino man with dairy farm experience in Japan and a Kenyan man who has been working in the Saudi Arabian dairy industry for a number of years, will move to the Hill End farm after impressing in their Zoom interviews.

“They’re both very experienced and have a similar type of qualification to ag science in this country,” Aubrey said.

Aubrey and Jacqui are looking forward to their arrival.

The new workers will share a house on the farm, with everything to be ready for them when they get there.

They won’t be charged for accommodation in the fully furnished home, with power bills to be paid for them, once again demonstrating it is not a cheap option.

Aubrey expects some new challenges to arise once the workers arrive, but is happy to take those in his stride.

Shady Creek dairy farmers Anthea Day and Trevor Saunders milk a little over 1,000 cattle in total at their two properties and have significant unmet staffing needs.

All up, they need eight workers, including filling two permanent positions.

The search to fill those two roles began prior to the arrival of Covid.

“Staffing’s a massive issue and everyone wants their work life balance and you just cannot get enough staff,” Anthea said.

The couple are keen to find people who want to work, and came to the information session to learn more about the process of hiring employees from overseas.

Having seen dairy farm setups in a number of countries, the Anthea and Trevor  were impressed with the Filipino workers they encountered during a stay in New Zealand, their strong work ethic and reliability.

They noted those workers were highly qualified.

Trevor Saunders and partner Anthea Day came to the information session to learn how the process of employing overseas workers operates, including how to recruit them, pay them, what needs to be supplied and what the visa requirements are.

They also wanted to learn about what support is available should any problems arise.