This supports a finding from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) that seasonal workers employed under the 416 visa harvested fruit at a much faster rate than their working holiday maker, or 417 visa holding, counterparts.

Seasonal workers were, on average, 22 per cent more efficient than working holidaymakers according to the ABARES study. New seasonal workers were 13 percent more efficient and returning seasonal workers 27 percent more efficient than the backpackers.

APAL Industry Services Manager, Annie Farrow, recently spoke to a South Australian grower who said the Seasonal Worker Programme has significantly increased the productivity in his orchard. “About one half of my summer thinning and harvest staff are from Vanuatu and half are supplied by a contract labour firm, either backpackers or unskilled Australians. First year seasonal workers are about 20 per cent more efficient than workers supplied by the contract labour firm,” he said. “But, repeat seasonal workers are about 40 per cent better. This last season I engaged the pruners to come back from Vanuatu to help with that task, because their efficiency more than paid for the cost of international flights.”

Paul Good, APAL Director and Operations and Market Development Manager at Newton Orchards in Manjimup, agrees with the above sentiment, “Our business is very supportive of the Seasonal Worker Programme and we intend to get workers back for the 2016 harvest season. This would equate to approximately 10 per cent of the workforce we need at harvest. These will be from our original crew of six to12 people – individuals who are tried and trusted workers.

“If I look at the performance of the workers for the first two years, it was very pleasing. The crew in those first two years had a very high rate of productivity when picking apples for harvest. They would pick the apples almost bruise free – the single largest issue that affects our pack-out rates and hence profitability.

“Many of the workers already had good practical skills, which meant they were relatively quick to learn new skills and tasks. Most of the original crew have a good work ethic and some exceptional – they really care about doing a good job. The crew worked together to help and motivate each other.”

Good said that repeat workers passed their knowledge and experience onto other seasonal workers, so new workers quickly became ‘up-skilled’.

“In general repeat workers are great, regardless of whether they’re seasonal workers or backpackers. They come readily equipped with the knowledge of the jobs and tasks at hand, so our productivity from those workers is very high. The Tongans were happy to do any job, and seem to really like the more physical jobs such as ‘reflective matt’ rolling and netting (often challenging for backpackers). It’s great to walk into your orchard and see people working hard, hearing them laughing and singing,” he added.

Yarra Valley grower, Sue Finger, from Vernview Orchards says that she was dissatisfied with labour hire contractors who churned backpacker staff continually and were concerned that they may have been employing illegal labour or not paying their workers correctly.

“We could not allow possible exploitation and our productivity was being compromised by the staff churn. This increases administration and particularly training costs and made building stable picking teams impossible,” she explained.

About four years ago, Finger became involved in the Seasonal Worker Programme, first engaging another approved employer to look after their labour needs and then becoming an approved employer herself. “With the advent of the Seasonal Worker Programme, our business has changed so we schedule workers to arrive to do the task, ensuring better productivity and enhanced profitability. We do the work in a timely manner. Our research is indicating that you are best to have five workers for a week rather than one worker for five weeks. This research now dictates the scheduling of hand thinning, hand pruning and other manual requirements as well as harvest work.

“Last season we had four Pacific seasonal workers arrive in mid-October. They helped place temporary netting over the trees, hand thinning and putting out reflective matting. These workers then started on the early harvest. In March six more seasonal workers arrived to cope with the harvest, with an overlap of local workers to ensure that fruit was picked in optimum condition. By mid-April the first tranche of Pacific workers returned home. The remainder continued with the harvest until May and then they attended to bringing in nets, reflective matting and commenced pruning. The last workers returned to Vanuatu in July.”

APAL CEO, John Dollisson, recently accompanied Farrow to present evidence to a hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration for its inquiry into the Seasonal Worker Programme.

“We advised Members of Parliament that while less than five apple and pear growers currently use the Seasonal Worker Programme, we hope that many more of the industry’s 600 growers would give greater consideration to the benefits it provides,” Farrow said. “It is true that for most – but not all – growers, there is a ready supply of casual unskilled labour from the pool of international backpackers. We advised the Joint Standing Committee that the apple and pear industry relies heavily upon this scheme and that it was critical that it remain in place, including the second year option for those working in regional Australia in industries like horticulture.”

New rules associated with the program should make the proposition of employing seasonal workers more attractive to growers. For example, the rule that required employers to guarantee a minimum of fourteen weeks’ work has been removed, although approved employers must guarantee a minimum average of 30 hours’ work per week. Seasonal workers can be employed for up to six months at a time and those recruited from Kiribati, Nauru or Tuvalu can be employed for up to nine months.

Changes to the cost sharing arrangements have also improved the attractiveness of the Seasonal Worker Programme. The approved employer is still responsible for paying for the entire return international airfare and domestic transfer costs for seasonal workers to and from their work location. However, the approved employer can now recover any amount over $500 from these transportation costs. For example, if the return international airfare costs $1,200, and the domestic transfers to and from the work location cost $300, the employer can recover up to $1,000 from the seasonal worker’s pay over the course of their employment.

Growers advised APAL that the process of gaining approved employer status imposed a substantial administrative burden and was a major impediment to taking on seasonal workers. APAL will continue to work with the Department of Employment to reduce the costs associated with the program so all growers can enjoy the improved productivity that seasonal workers apparently bring to the orchard.

For more information read both APAL’s and Sue Finger’s (No.13, Vernview Pty Ltd) submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker Programme.