A VICTORIAN contract harvester who hires around 10 header and chaser bin drivers for the harvest run from Queensland to Victoria each year has said 2020 has been a challenging year to find staff due to a diminished pool of skilled workers and uncertainty surrounding cross-border movements.
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Chris Bartlett, Bartlett Brothers Harvesting, based in the Wimmera, said putting together a harvest crew this year had been a different challenge to normal due to the lack of access to skilled international workers.
"We normally have quite a few skilled staff coming in from overseas each year, as an industry I'd reckon close to half the workforce are internationals," he said.
"This obviously isn't the case this year and we've had to look elsewhere for header and chaser bin drivers and the task is that bit more difficult because people aren't sure whether they'll have to quarantine, which, when it is only temporary work, makes it harder to attract people."
He said his team was primarily Victorian which meant there was as yet no certainty they would be heading up to harvest the northern crop.
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"All the talk is that government is working to get a deal sorted out and you would expect it to be resolved but until it is done we are technically up in the air."
Mr Bartlett has one employee coming from South Australia, and he would likely take a different route to the northern NSW cropping zone than normal.
"Generally from SA you would come up through Victoria with the better roads but this year with the issues with crossing the Vic border it might be better off if he just heads up via Broken Hill, there are a lot more logistics at play than normal."
Mr Bartlett acknowledged the need for the northern states to protect themselves from COVID-19 but said harvest contractors were very low risk.
"To start with, we're all from rural areas with very low rates of infection or even no cases at all, and secondly it is a job where it is very easy to maintain social distancing from others."
"We don't really need to come in physical contact with the farmers at all in terms of work."
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In terms of accommodation, he said the work crew was isolated from the community.
"When we get up there we always stay on the farm, in a shearer's quarters or worker accommodation and the only time we head into town is for groceries or spare parts, both of which can be organised by click and collect or over the phone so we can have virtually zero contact with the local community."
He said government needed to work to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
"Agriculture is one of the few things keeping our economy going and if they can find exemptions for the footy or for a TV series or whatever then surely a system for something that is contributing so much to our national bottom line can be worked out."
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