Agricultural Sector Employment

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:18): My question is for the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister please endeavour to seek the expeditious passage of essential harvest workers over the border so that they can participate in the upcoming harvest? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain further.

Leave granted.

Mr ELLIS: There are a number of outstanding cross-border passes on the Narungga office books, and harvest has already kicked off on the YP. Those workers are needed as soon as possible.

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM (Finniss—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (15:18): I thank the member for his very important question. As we head into harvest, workforce is a critical issue and not just for the grain industry. As we head into the fruit picking season up in the Riverland, as well, we certainly need people to pick our fruit.

Essential workers in agriculture have been given the opportunity to be given priority to come into South Australia from places like Victoria and New South Wales, with the border restrictions. We have been working with Health SA as well as the Department of Primary Industries and Regions to make sure we get people in when required.

There has been a process shift where those who require an agriculture exemption to bring in—that has been shifted across to PIRSA to actually process, to effectively make sure their applications are getting assessed in a timely manner. We have been working with electoral offices to make sure that we get people in under those circumstances. I am more than happy to work with the member for Narungga's staff to make sure that we get those applications to front of mind, to make sure that those workers can get in.

We have a wonderful grain sector out there and we have an amazing harvest on our doorstep at the moment. As the member for Narungga said, the season has started, we are seeing crops being harvested, so we do need those workers in.

We have also done other work where we have enabled accommodation to be set up at grain silos, so there have been some planning approvals to allow temporary accommodation to be sat there to allow those workers to have somewhere to reside out in the regions if we can't get those dedicated workers from across the border.

It certainly is important. There are skill sets that we do need to bring in from time to time, particularly in servicing equipment, whether it be harvesters or hay machinery. There has been a circumstance recently where there was a farmer down in the South-East on a Sunday afternoon. His crew arrived at the border to come over the next day and make silage. We were able to respond to that and get them access immediately to get them over so that the silage contractor could start work the following day.

It's important to know that there are these opportunities for workers to come in for those agricultural purposes. It is so important for our economy that we make sure that we do get these crops harvested in a timely manner.

I very much just ask the member for Narungga to please supply the details of those particular issues that he has within his electorate. We will work through those to make sure that those people are able to come in and do the work that is required to deliver the harvest so that the economy of South Australia is underpinned again by agriculture.

The SPEAKER: The question before the Chair is that the house note grievances, but before we depart I might note that this is the second consecutive day that no member has departed under 137A.