Karl Dean: Federated Farmers Dairy Chair on new work Visas

Federated Farmers says two new visas provide a clear pathway for seasonal international workers.

Experienced workers like rural contractors can apply for the Global Workforce Seasonal Visa, which is available for up to three years and allows them to return on the same visa.

The Peak Seasonal Visa will be for up to seven months. 

Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Karl Dean told Ryan Bridge it's a welcome change.

He says normally they'd get workers in on a working holiday visa for a year, but this makes much clearer what they're here for.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two new work visas are on the way, aimed at
supporting sectors like agriculture, forestry, your tourism operators. The Global
Workforce Visa, this is your first one, brings in specialized
workers for up to three years. This is allowing them
to come and go basically as they please, though there
are some time limits. Well. The Peak Seasonal visa is
for short term agri and aquaculture jobs and is up

(00:22):
for up to seven months. I should say Cardine is
fed farmer's dairy chair with us this morning. Carl, Good morning,
Good morning, Ron. Yeah, good to have you on. Why
are these needed?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
So A lot of this is about I think we
can all agree that when you have a new staff member,
takes a bit of time and the cost in a
business to get them up to speed. And a lot
of this is about the fact that, especially in our
contracting and in our meeting processing area, we have very
specialized jobs that these guys that should travel around the world.

(00:58):
It's for contracting, for example, for harvest season for the
grass harvest, they normally travel between the southern and the
northern hemisphere. So it's quite useful for those contractors to
have the same person sharp three years in a row
now potentially without having any issues for them to do
their work, then be able to go home, do their

(01:20):
work at the other end of the other end of
the globe, and then come back in the following season.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
You will have people asking why don't we get some
of the two hundred thousand odd jobs see cold beneficiaries
and do jobs like this albeit temporary jobs not happening.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
No, I suppose, like I said, the highly skilled jobs,
and they're only seasonal. So you can have someone trained
up if they want to travel to the normal hemisphere
of six months, and there's nothing stopping those people now
than in the trade in New Zealand. But then they're
going to realize that, yeah, literally, there's things to move

(01:58):
around the whole whole world. So you know there are
things like wine making in here that again we only
have wine harvest for two to three months of the year.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, yeah, So it's a time limited thing that they
are requiring one season of previous relevant experience for the
peak seasonal visa. Is that an issue or does that
sound right to you?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
That sounds right to me. I mean again that these
are places that normally these people have experience in the
Northern Hemisphere doing that seasonal work. So I then that's
just saying, all right, we'll normally be able to get
them in for one year, and normally they might come
in on working holiday visa. But this makes it a
lot clearer that they're here for this purpose and that

(02:42):
can be better tracked in the future.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Interesting, Cal, appreciate your trying this morning, Cal Deane fed
Farmer's Dairy. Ched for more from Earlily Edition with Ryan Bridge.
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