CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Dr WEBSTER (Mallee) (10:03): Right now, Mallee's fields are green and gold. There is wheat and canola in abundance, and farmers are preparing for harvest. But Labor is playing political games, delaying farm worker visas.
I have a message from my farmers for the Minister for Home Affairs: harvest won't wait for you to take your sweet time to work this out. Australia's grains industry is worth billions. In 2024-25 alone, broadacre crops generated an estimated $22.5 billion, including $10 billion for wheat.
But here's another truth bomb for Labor: none of that grain gets from the paddock to the silo without people. Last week I spoke with Nick Paterson, managing director of Excel Farms. His business expects to need around 60 workers this harvest.
Many are experienced and returning working holiday-makers. In fact, many return every year from the UK, Canada and Ireland. They know Australian farms.
They know harvest. Importantly, they know how to safely operate multimillion dollar equipment. Nick has tried to recruit Australian header drivers without success.
He's anxious the backpackers he relies on each year may now not arrive in time. He is not alone. Matt Burke is another farmer who is in exactly the same predicament.
Every day delayed means hundreds of thousands of dollars stripped from farm businesses. Farmers are already under pressure with the cost of fuel, fertiliser, chemicals, machinery, finance and Labor's threat to their right to farm. Backpackers have long helped fill harvest labour gaps.
There were more than 258,000 working holiday-makers in Australia in the year to March 2026. This is an established workforce that Australian agriculture has relied on for years. They are not replacing Australians.
Employers cannot find enough Australians with the necessary skills. Backpackers stay in our towns, spend money in our pubs, supermarkets and shops, rent locally and support regional businesses. Yet, at the very moment agriculture needs these workers, farmers are worrying whether they will arrive.
On the department's own website, backpacker visas are usually processed in one day. Well, not anymore. Labor has put the brakes on, and for some it's now over 40 days.
Labor knows it has a migration problem, but backpackers coming for harvest are not the problem. Farmers don't need more words. They need workers.