Young Australians could be given jobseeker payments as incentive to pick fruit
Written by Naaman Zhou
Growing list of MPs want refugees to be offered permanent residency if they pick fruit on short-staffed farms
Young Australians could be incentivised with jobseeker payments to pick fruit as short-staffed farms desperately seek to make up for absent backpackers due to Covid-19 border restrictions.
A parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday recommended the government “urgently” set up a program targeted at year 12 and university students, encouraging them to “have a gap year at home” by moving to regional Australia to pick fruit.
Related: Harvests could be lost if coronavirus travel restrictions lead to labour shortages on Australian farms
Related: How the climate crisis is changing Australia's wine industry
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