'Deeply offensive' to suggest farmers 'prefer to abuse and exploit backpackers', NFF says

Australia's peak farming body has accused Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke of making "deeply offensive" comments about farmers, as concern grows over how changes to backpacker visas could affect the nation's agricultural workforce.

The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) has warned the changes could contribute to higher food prices if they leave growers without enough workers during key harvest periods — times when farmers often hire 'backpackers' on Working Holiday visas.

While Burke acknowledged the migration changes would create challenges for some, he suggested the agricultural sector could utilise additional capacity in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.

The scheme allows eligible Australian businesses to recruit workers from nine Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste when there are not enough local workers available.

Burke also said the strengthening of protections for PALM workers during his tenure as employment minister had led to warnings from some agricultural employers that they would turn away from the PALM scheme.

"At the time that we were improving those rules, we had some of the farm organisations say to us, 'If you do this, our members will just go and use backpackers,'" Burke told SBS News.

"If the reason that people are more reliant on backpackers and refusing to use Pacific workers is because they're upset that we've ended exploitation in those areas, I think that is a very different question for a number of operators."

He also stressed the criticism did not apply to the entire agricultural sector, saying "that doesn't depict the whole of the farm sector, not for a minute".

Richard Shannon, executive officer of the NFF Horticulture Council, labelled Burke's comments as "provocative" and rejected any suggestion that employers had moved away from the PALM scheme because of stronger protections for workers.

"The minister is suggesting that employers in horticulture would prefer to abuse and exploit backpackers than remain in the PALM program," Shannon told SBS News.

"This is not about exploiting people and finding loopholes, and it's deeply offensive."

Shannon argued that the reason some employers had moved away from PALM was because changes to the scheme had increased costs and administrative requirements.

He said backpackers and PALM workers also served different purposes within the agricultural workforce and could not simply be substituted for one another.

Employers in the PALM scheme have responsibilities including arranging accommodation and transport and providing additional support to workers.

Shannon said those requirements made the scheme significantly more expensive for employers than hiring backpackers, particularly for businesses needing workers for shorter periods.

The changes come as parts of Australia's horticulture industry approach major summer harvest periods, when growers can require large numbers of workers for relatively short periods.

"What [Burke] is effectively doing now is shortening the supply of backpackers and pushing people, employers, back into a program that is uncommercial for them," he said.

Why are farmers concerned about the visa changes?

Under the federal government's migration overhaul announced on Thursday, working holidaymakers wanting to remain in Australia for a second or third year will have to enter a ballot after completing the required regional work.

Second-year places will be capped at 45,000, compared with 57,000 people who qualified last year, while third-year places will fall from 31,000 to 5,000.

The government says the changes will give it greater control over migration numbers while retaining incentives for backpackers to work in regional Australia.

The government has also announced agriculture will receive priority under changes to skilled visa processing.

Shannon said the agricultural sector's immediate reaction to the changes has been "alarm", and farmers were seeking more detail from the government about how the changes would affect workforce availability.

"We have no detail as to what effect this might have on the workforce that's available in the short term and ongoing," he said.

"That's so important for our growers right now — to better understand what effect this is going to have on the numbers of backpackers in the region, and whether or not they need to make alternative plans."

Shannon also said any significant shortage of workers could ultimately flow through to consumers through higher production costs.

"It's quite clear that there's going to be a shortage now of workers, and that prices of food are going to go up."

Shannon said agricultural worker shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic had also led to such price rises but added that the industry was still uncertain about exactly how Labor's changes would affect worker availability during key harvest periods.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences reported in late 2021 that fruit and vegetable prices had risen above their usual seasonal levels but said declining availability of overseas agricultural workers was only one possible cause.

What's happening to Working Holiday visas?

The government's recently announced changes form part of a broader effort to bring net overseas migration down to 245,000 this financial year and 225,000 in 2027-28.

Burke said working holidaymakers accounted for 48,000 places in the nation's net overseas migration figure last year, arguing no part of the visa system could be excluded from efforts to reduce overall numbers.

Backpackers will still need to complete 88 days of specified regional work to qualify for a second year and six months to qualify for a third.

But completing that work will no longer guarantee an additional year. Eligible applicants will instead enter the new ballots for the limited number of places.

At the same time, the government says processing of primary working holidaymaker applications will return to faster rates for countries whose visa arrangements include the regional work requirement.

Shannon said the NFF wanted the government to leave the existing working holidaymaker arrangements in place rather than impose the new caps.

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.