Pickers Wanted!

How to attract Tasmanians to fill the void of fruit picking jobs left by migrant workers while borders are closed is being thrashed out by the state government and agricultural sector.

Officials met yesterday and will again later this week.

A major campaign targeting locals is being launched by the government in coming weeks.

“They’ve also put some money aside for transport to get people from more of our city locations to the rural locations to do the picking,” Fruit Growers Tasmania CEO Peter Cornish said.

But with some 8000 positions available for the harvest season, it seems likely that hiring some senior interstate workers will still be necessary

“They’re workers who have been here before and are linked to our employers,” explained Cornish. “So there’s a significant cohort of experienced, trained people that we need to come back and work with our locals.”

He was optimistic that there are plenty of Tasmanians also keen to take up temporary jobs in agriculture.

“People who normally travel overseas maybe for a gap year, people leaving school who may never have thought about agriculture as an industry they might be into, and a whole range of uni students.

Unfortunately hospitality work may be a lot less than what was expected. So we’re hopeful there are people out there.”

Premier Peter Gutwein said there were a number of steps to go through to get workers for the upcoming harvest seasons.

“The very first step is to encourage as many Tasmanians as we can to take on these jobs and some of the feedback from businesses has been fantastic,” he said. “My understanding is that Tasmanians are putting their hand up.”

Guy Barnett, Minister for Primary Industries and Water, said that there has never been a better time for Tasmanians in need of work to ‘roll the sleeves up’ and help vital primary industries.

“This is a great opportunity for Tasmanians to earn hundreds of dollars a week, while gaining valuable skills and experience,” he said. “While our focus is on getting Tasmanians to fill these jobs, we do understand the concerns of the industry and we are actively working on contingency plans, within COVID-safe parameters, to ensure we have a harvest ready workforce.”

The state government has formally expressed interest in opting into the federal Seasonal Worker Program. At the same time both DPIPWE and DPAC are actively engaged with public health to facilitate the safe movement of people from non-affected areas of mainland Australia and understand the best model for quarantine arrangements.

For more information on the types of seasonal work opportunities that are available, the best place to start looking for work, skills development and training, and careers in agriculture – go to the DPIPWE Harvest Jobs website at https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/agriculture/harvest-jobs or call FarmPoint on 1300 292 292.

Fruit Growers Tasmania also has an information page about harvest work.