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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-19 Daily Xml
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Regional Labour Force

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding the regional labour force.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: In response to the federal government's announcement of the new agricultural visa, it was reported on 22 October 2021 that the ACTU president, Michelle O'Neill, opposed the program. My question to the minister is: given her union mates are blocking the federal government's agricultural visa program, which has actually been welcomed by stakeholders and industry as a step in the right direction, how is she going to solve the regional labour force shortage crisis in South Australia?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for her question, stating first of all, obviously, that a number of the matters she is talking about in terms of agricultural visas fall within the scope of the federal government.

I think it's very interesting in terms of: what am I going to do to solve it? I am certainly very invested in addressing this issue, which appears to be in stark contrast to the former government. They did, after all, have four years to address the regional workforce crisis and the regional housing crisis. What have we seen from them over that four years?

I have been out in the regional areas, both before the last state election and of course since, and the two major issues are regional workforce and regional housing. In all of my regional visits, have I heard from employers, from industry, about the wonderful work that the former government did to address these issues? No, I haven't, and why is that? Because they did very, very little. To expect that after eight weeks in government we will have solved the problems that were unaddressed, in the main, by the previous government is really quite ludicrous.

I think it is incredibly important that we work on the regional workforce issues. It's incredibly important that we look at all of the reasons why we have not got a suitable workforce and a sufficient workforce in regional areas. I think it's an area that is worthy of some consideration. To be frank, it would be ideal if this could be looked at in a bipartisan way, because the regional workforce is something that lasts over a long period of time that we need to have long-term planning for.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Continue, minister. I would like to be able to hear the minister.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: What we are seeing, unfortunately, despite those opposite saying, 'We are all for the regions', what they want to do is score political points instead of actually work constructively towards how we can address these issues in terms of the regional workforce. There are a number of issues that we need to look at.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Order from both sides! I can't hear the minister.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: I was very pleased to be involved recently in an online forum, Regions Rising, which was going to be in Mount Gambier as a physical face-to-face event but unfortunately had to change because of COVID, where the various issues around regional housing were looked at through the lens of workforce issues. I think it's incumbent upon those in government and those in opposition—those in parliament—to look at how we can solve these problems over the long term.

What we have had is an over-reliance on shipping people in. We need to ensure that we have the right balance between relying, for example, on backpackers, because we saw that during COVID we couldn't rely on that as a workforce solution. So we need to look at, absolutely, encouraging backpackers back, and I'm very glad that the latest ten-pound Pom program and campaign has been received so very well.

I was speaking just earlier this week with some stakeholders who were saying that is an excellent initiative. Of course, that is focused on the tourism industry, but they acknowledge that that will actually flow through to other areas of regional workforce issues. People come on the ten-pound Pom program, they will perhaps work in tourism, but then they may well move on to other roles in regional areas which are important, whether those roles are in agriculture, horticulture, tourism, hospitality and so on.

So I think it's an important program that we have already initiated—a small one, but a first step in the right direction. I sincerely hope that those opposite, instead of trying to score cheap political points after being in government for four years and not achieving the outcomes that were needed to address regional workforce shortages, would actually look at how they can work constructively. If they have any ideas I'm more than happy to meet with them to discuss them.

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