By Ben Bennett, President, Australian Dairy Farmers
While the job’s not quite done, months of advocacy have helped the Australian Government restore agriculture to the skilled visa processing priority list. It’s welcome news to dairy farmers and regional communities.
It’s also an acknowledgement of something dairy farmers have been saying for a long time: when local workers cannot be found, agriculture must have access to skilled migrant labour.
While this announcement is an important step forward and demonstrates the impact coordinated advocacy can have, it would be a mistake to see it as the end of the road.
Dairy farming is not a Monday-to-Friday vocation. Cows must be milked every day. Cows don’t acknowledge you’re short-staffed and give you a break. Businesses still need staff and rosters need to be filled.
That is why the consequences of Ministerial Direction 119 were so concerning.
Many agricultural visa applicants who had already been recruited and sponsored suddenly found themselves pushed to the back of the processing queue. Farmers who had invested significant time and money into workforce planning were left waiting for decisions with no certainty about when workers might arrive.
The Government’s decision to restore agriculture to the processing priority list recognises that outcome was creating genuine problems for regional industries. We welcome that recognition.
However, changing the priority settings is only the first step. There remains a backlog of agricultural visa applications that accumulated while agriculture sat lower in the queue. Farmers need clarity about how those applications will be handled, whether they will be reprioritised and how quickly decisions can be expected.
Just as importantly, significant concerns remain about proposed changes to the Working Holiday Maker program. While the skilled visa announcement has rightly attracted attention, many agricultural industries are equally focused on proposals that would introduce ballots and significantly limit Working Holiday Maker visas.
Those workers have been an important part of the labour force across regional Australia for many years. Any significant reduction in their numbers has the potential to affect workforce availability across a range of agricultural sectors.
That is why ongoing consultation with industry remains essential.
Dairy farmers are managing rising input costs, seasonal uncertainty, volatile global markets and ongoing workforce shortages. Labour is only one part of that picture, but it is a critical one.
Recently, I spoke on national radio about the pressures facing dairy farmers. We discussed everything from diesel and fertiliser through to supermarket pricing and seasonal conditions.
Australia today is absolutely reliant on diesel. We are not a small European country where products move relatively short distances. We are a continent.
Milk produced on a farm in south-west Victoria may ultimately be consumed in Brisbane. Fertiliser, feed, equipment and consumer products move thousands of kilometres through complex supply chains.
When diesel prices start heading back towards $3 a litre, farmers notice. Transport operators notice. Consumers ultimately notice as well.
At the same time, fertiliser remains expensive, despite efforts by industry and government to improve supply security.
Weather also remains a constant factor. Farmers are watching forecasts closely and preparing for whatever conditions may come.
Against that backdrop, labour uncertainty creates another challenge that many businesses simply don’t need.
As we’ve said all along, farmers are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for practical and predictable policy settings that recognise the realities of producing food in regional Australia.
When governments get workforce policy right, businesses can plan with confidence, communities remain strong and Australia’s food production sector remains competitive.
The Government deserves credit for listening to industry concerns and restoring agriculture to the skilled visa processing priority list.
Now the focus should be on clearing the backlog, providing certainty for employers and working collaboratively with agriculture on the next phase of migration reform.
Because for farmers facing rising costs, uncertain seasons and workforce shortages, certainty matters almost as much as the workers themselves.