Attributable to NFF Horticulture Council Executive Officer Richard Shannon
The NFF Horticulture Council has welcomed recent work by ABARES that provides a better view of the workforce challenges in horticulture.
Bright spots include findings that fewer businesses are struggling to find workers and that employment numbers overall are up.
The findings do need to be considered in their proper context, with the baseline being the years during the COVID-19 pandemic when labour challenges were particularly acute.
We have obviously benefitted greatly from the relaxation of controls that had stopped the movement of workers between countries. What this highlights is the critical role that backpackers, in particular, play in meeting these shortfalls - at a time when the future of the working holidaymaker program is under review.
What is perhaps most notable is that despite backpackers returning en masse in 2022/23, and now at record highs, 34% of employers were still struggling to recruit enough labour.
This points again to failures in the labour market that Federal Government programs and policies, including the Working Holiday Maker program and Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, are designed to address.
The Council encourages further work from ABARES that would lead to a deeper understanding of these labour market failures and how government responses can best assure Australians a secure supply of fresh and affordable fruits, vegetables, nuts, turf and nursery products.
About the Horticulture Council
The Council is the recognised peak body for forming policy and advocating on behalf of the national horticulture industry. Established in 2017, it now comprises 20 national commodity and state-based horticulture bodies.
It is a member of the National Farmers' Federation, free to establish and advance its own policy positions and responses issues impacting the horticulture industry.
