A NEW agricultural worker visa has hit a roadblock, with no countries signing up to the new permit, which the Federal government has blamed on scaremongering by the Australian Workers Union (AWU).
However, the AWU says it was simply doing what unions do - lobbying to protect the workers it represented and warning other countries about the history of foreign worker abuse within the industry.
The visa came into effect in October and, at the time, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the new visa holders would be on farms by Christmas and begin to ease the industry's chronic seasonal worker shortage.
But negotiations with the South East Asian countries the new program was targeting have stumbled.
Mr Littleproud pointed the finger at the AWU for generalising and demonising Australian farmers to overseas representatives, which he said had muddied the waters.
"The AWU has met with ambassadors and visitors and contacted many embassies from South East Asia, encouraging them not to sign up to the agricultural visa because they believe that Australian farmers will exploit their citizens," Mr Littleproud said.
"I don't know why the AWU hates Australia so much and hates farmers so much.
"You don't go and do that and actively sabotage a program and actually remove any goodwill around our reputation as a good citizen globally."
Mr Littleproud acknowledged that within agriculture, like any industry, "there is always a small cohort that do the wrong thing".
The AWU confirmed it had spoken to ambassadors but did not reveal with which countries it had been in contact.
AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said the union had no desire to demonise agriculture, but it would not stay silent after numerous reports showed the industry was "addicted to worker exploitation and worker abuse".
"If your industry serves up a mountain of bad apples you have to be unethical, stupid, or both to ignore the need for systemic reform," Mr Walton said.
"We have spoken to ambassadors and we will continue to tell them - and anyone else who will listen - that the new ag visa is dangerous and will pave the way for even more exploitation.
"If the minister was being honest, he would admit that the abuse we know about would be a tiny proportion of what's going on.
"Workers with poor English and no local connections find it very hard to report mistreatment."
With the blame being shuffled back and forth and various political parties arguing with each other for their own gain, farmers are being left in the dark over when and if they will ever see workers from South East Asia turn up in Australia.
For WAFarmers chief executive officer Trevor Whittington, the situation was out of hand, starting with a State government that is wondering where all the agricultural workers are that never fronted up to their "mad advertising efforts".
"We have the Federal Nationals accusing the Liberals of failing to negotiate bilateral deals to bring in more farm workers, while the Liberals are accusing the Nationals of undermining our relations with the Pacific Islanders by expanding the scheme to South East Asian nations," Mr Whittington said.
"We have the Australian Workers Union running around the Pacific claiming the scheme will see workers enslaved on Australian farms and we have the Australia Labour Party hoping the infighting will continue long enough for the new ag visa to never get up.
"In the meantime, farmers are wondering who is capable of running the country."
Grain Producers Australia chairman Barry Large said he was concerned about potential further delays with delivering the visa, due to misinformation and the unfair demonisation of farmers - especially amid ongoing COVID border closures.
Mr Large said he encouraged all parties involved in the negotiations to focus clearly on working collaboratively and in good faith, to deliver long-term outcomes which support Australian farmers and their communities.
"When the ag visa was announced in August last year, GPA expressed cautious optimism about its capacity to deliver certainty to farmers, with access to skilled workers to operate heavy machinery and meet surge capacity during peak periods such as harvest and seeding," Mr Large said.
"Whilst we continue to find alternative solutions locally, such as the WAFarmers-led Australian Defence Force initiative, our position on the ag visa remains unchanged.
"However, we are encouraged by Mr Littleproud's recent statements saying that (Foreign Affairs) Minister Marise Payne has given a commitment to him, and the Prime Minister, that this issue is her top priority for finalising this month.
"Urgency remains a priority, with farmers already looking to source labour for seeding."
Mr Littleproud urged the AWU to be constructive and encouraged union representatives to go out to meet farmers to understand their needs, "rather than sitting in a high-rise in Melbourne".
But Mr Walton said the union had sought meetings with Mr Littleproud to voice its concerns, however the minister had "shown no interest".
"If (Mr Littleproud) cared at all about the potential for migrant workers to be exploited and abused you'd think you would want to hear all the perspectives, instead of burying your head in the sand," Mr Walton said.
Mr Littleproud said visa negotiations were being handled by Ms Payne, who was committed to resolving the situation this month.
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