The NSW Government will become the first jurisdiction to write the new Agricultural Workers Code into public health orders, paving the way for the $15.9 billion NSW primary industries sector to find skilled workers for the upcoming harvest.
\nPremier Berejiklian said the Code was critical to supporting the agricultural industry and ensuring regional communities can capitalise on this year\u2019s bumper crops.
\n\u201cNSW is an agriculture production powerhouse and the Agricultural Workers\u2019 Code enables the State\u2019s farmers to be the launching pad for NSW to commence recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19,\u201d Ms Berejiklian said.
\n\u201cThe Code means that farmers from Warialda to Wagga Wagga can get the best skilled workers to help them with this year\u2019s harvest, regardless if they\u2019re from Queensland, South Australia, Victoria or the Northern Territory.\u201d
\nActing Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the Code was common sense policy that would ensure farmers could access the workers they need to run their farms.
\n\u201cI\u2019m glad NSW has worked proactively to ensure our farmers can tap into the skills they need despite the unprecedented COVID-19 restrictions impacting movement across State borders – from shearers to contract harvesters and fruit pickers,\u201d Mr Toole said.
\n\u201cThis is a win for farmers and will support jobs in agriculture right across the state.\u201d
\nMinister for Agriculture and Western NSW Adam Marshall said the NSW Government had been a driving force behind the interjurisdictional agreement.
\n\u201cOur farmers have just come out of the worst drought on record, and they are now poised to begin their recovery with the largest winter crop harvest since 2016, and they need the workforce to take advantage of that,\u201d Mr Marshall said.
\n\u201cThis Code will allow the critical free movement of agricultural workers across state borders so that primary industries can not only continue to feed and clothe the nation, but be the driving force behind the economic recovery from COVID-19.\u201d
\nAgricultural workers travelling between NSW and Victoria will need a permit and relevant identification and will be required to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as appropriate.
\nTravelling workers will also need to keep records of their movements. Agricultural employers need to support workers to perform self-isolation in the first 14 days after entry into NSW, and must have a COVID safety plan in place<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NSW Government will become the first jurisdiction to write the new Agricultural Workers Code into public health orders, paving the way for the $15.9 billion NSW primary industries sector to find skilled workers for the upcoming harvest. Premier Berejiklian said the Code was critical to supporting the agricultural industry and ensuring regional communities can … Continue reading “NSW LEADS THE WAY ON AGRICULTURAL WORKERS\u2019 CODE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}