Acting CEO, Donna Mogg, said Growcom supported the idea of resettling Syrian refugees in regional areas of Queensland as has been mooted in recent days by Senator Ian Macdonald, Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio and the Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry – however, with some reservations.

Growcom called on the government to give serious consideration to a planned program of regional resettlement, in co-operation with councils and community groups, which could provide much needed labour to fill horticultural jobs.

“It is pleasing to see Queenslanders are supportive of the idea of resettling 3,500 of the total 12,000 Syrian refugees in Queensland and that Queenslanders would embrace and care for people who are disadvantaged,” Mogg said. “However, resettlement is a complex issue and without the major backing of the Australian Government and Queensland Governments with a considered program the plan is likely to fail.

“The Governments would need to ensure that the refugees’ welfare needs were met in regional areas, including initial living costs, access to suitable long term housing, education for their children, religious support and local transportation.

“Since the refugees are likely to be traumatised by what they have fled from, access to adequate health services would be a priority. This is particularly the case since the bulk of Australia’s Syrian community lives in metropolitan centres and would be unable to provide support to the new arrivals.

“The workers would need to be adequately educated about all aspects of Australian life and culture and offered English language training. This is in addition to training for work on a horticultural farm, about which many of them may be ignorant.

“Similarly, growers would need adequate training in the cultural backgrounds of the people that they are employing and how to handle possible cultural issues which arise.

“Growers would need to ensure that the workers are employed and paid under Australian standards.

“Certainly, the costs could be offset by the productivity of a consistent and reliable team of motivated workers living in regional areas and growers would save time and money by not having to continually recruit and train new teams.

“However, in the short term the expense could be significant in integrating the refugees into life and work in regional areas. There is not much time with the first refugees expected to arrive before Christmas.”