Allowing overseas workers to complete their quarantine on-farm would save money and time and help ease the urgent worker shortages the agriculture sector is facing, says Orange orchardist and NSW Farmers Horticulture Committee Chair Guy Gaeta.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"You're away from everybody, you could be working on the farm metres away from anybody else - I think it's a workable plan. And it doesn't cost you as much to do it."
Overseas farm workers travelling to work in NSW as part of the Pacific Labour Scheme and Seasonal Worker Program are currently subject to mandatory hotel quarantine that costs employers a NSW government-subsidised rate of $1500 per person.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
"That's not much for one, but when you've got 50 ... that's a lot of money," Mr Gaeta said.
NSW Farmers has joined the National Farmers Federation in calling for on-farm quarantine arrangements in order to get workers on farms in time for summer harvests.
"The hotel quarantine system in NSW is causing unnecessary delays to the timely movement of workers to farms," NSW Farmers President James Jackson said.
"The availability of hotel quarantine places in NSW is limited and further constrained by Sydney's disproportionately high intake of returning residents.
"We acknowledge the subsidy the NSW Government has put in place to halve the cost of hotel quarantine applicable to agricultural workers, but the cost remains prohibitive to many farm enterprises, particularly the smaller ones."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
What do you think?
- Why not write us a letter to the editor ...