By Callum Ludwig
Immigration and Citizenship Shadow Minister Dan Tehan visited the Yarra Ranges last week to discuss how to address labour shortages in the region.
The plan is to advocate for a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) for a number of areas in the Yarra Ranges and neighbouring municipalities.
Casey MP Aaron Violi said it was a really productive visit.
“It’s important for shadow ministers to come out and see firsthand the challenges that we’ve got in Casey. We talked about how a DAMA can help solve some of the shortages in terms of workers in Casey,” he said.
“A consistent theme of the visit was talking to agricultural businesses throughout the Yarra Ranges about the skill shortage that we have. A DAMA will address that in the long term and the other opportunity is with work visas that allow backpackers and tourists to work in regional areas and extend their stay in Australia longer by working in those regional areas.”
A DAMA is a formal agreement between the Australian Government and a regional, state or territory authority that provides access to more overseas workers than the standard skilled migration program. It has a focus on recruiting Australian citizens and permanent residents as a priority and employers must demonstrate a genuine attempt to recruit Australians prior to getting access to a DAMA.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said a DAMA enables regional businesses to sponsor skilled overseas workers with more flexible arrangements than would otherwise apply through standard visa programs.
“The DAMA head agreement operates within a defined regional area, outlines the role and responsibilities of the Designated Area Representative and all agreed terms and concessions,” they said.
“The occupations available under each DAMA are reflective of skilled labour shortages specific to each region. Extensive industry and relevant stakeholder consultation is regularly conducted by the designated area representative, to ensure that the occupations available under their respective DAMA continue to address labour requirements in that area.”
There are also hopes to advocate for changes to the Working Holiday Visa program.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) provide an important contribution to Australia, including through their role in filling skills and labour gaps and job creation in associated industries and businesses.
“While WHMs are not required to work at all, they are allowed to work for the entire duration of their stay in Australia, in any location, industry and role they choose. They can also choose to undertake three and six months of ‘specified work’ to become eligible to apply for a second and third visa respectively,” they said.
“The specified work requirement was introduced in 2005 to address chronic and severe labour shortages with a number of adjustments made from 2008 to 2021.”
Postcodes 3139, 3797 and 3799 within the Yarra Ranges are defined as regional Australia for the Working Holiday Visa program.
Agribusiness Yarra Valley Chairman Clive Larkman said the Yarra Ranges is suffering from massive labour shortages because some areas don’t have the Working Holiday Visa extensions.
“It makes a big difference getting foreign workers to come work live and work in the Valley. Better access to immigrant workers is something we’ve been pushing for a long time, orchards just can’t get staff to pick and pack,” he said.
“Fruit is being left to sit on the vine because there’s no one to collect it also has a much greater propensity to attract fruit flies.
“Our farm workers are paid ethical wages and our tourism brings people to come for the wine, the fruit and the green fields. If you haven’t got profitable, sustainable small farms, then the Yarra Valley will just turn into a weed bin. Some big farms need hundreds of staff, but others just need two or three.”
Mr Violi and Mr Tehan had the chance to speak to Agribusiness Yarra Valley as well as CherryHill Orchards and Wine Yarra Valley at Hubert Estate.
Mr Violi said he is working to get the Working Holiday Visa program extended across the whole Casey electorate to address the opportunities and need in areas like Coldstream, Healesville and Yarra Glen.
“It’s vital that we fill those gaps and it’s one of the reasons I specifically requested to be on the Government’s Agricultural Committee because I wanted to play a constructive role in delivering tangible outcomes for agriculture,” he said.
Yarra Ranges Council and its Rural Advisory Committee (RAC) also want to see all postcodes within Yarra Ranges added to the Working Holiday Visa program, viticulture added to the list of eligible roles that enable a Working Holiday Visas second or third-year extension and postcodes added to the list of remote and very remote locations so that tourism and hospitality roles can be used for Working Holiday Visa extensions.
