Tasmania may be known as the Apple Isle, but its apples are going to waste waiting to be picked by a disappearing workforce.
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AAAW Calthorpe Orchard manager Bradley Ashlin said the picker shortage was a problem nationally, but had been felt at the Sidmouth property.
“We don’t have the numbers of pickers we normally would. We pick 5-6 days usually, but now we’re picking seven days to compensate,” Mr Ashlin said.
“The fruit is still being picked in good quality, but we have to keep logistics going, so everything else is impacted in the business.
“We are just surviving, but some growers are still trying to get the fruit off their trees,” he said.
Mr Ashlin sees the current shortage as a combination of the backpacker tax and the glut of work for fruit pickers draining the labour pool.
“We would like 60 pickers, but it’s hard to know how many we’ll get because there is so much work with berries, grapes, vegetables, apples and pears,” he said.
Fruit Growers Tasmania business development manager Phil Pyke said apple growers were struggling to find pickers this season.
“There is a real shortage right across the state,” Mr Pyke said.
“We haven’t seen it get to this level before,” he said.
While Mr Pyke said the shortage in workers could not be directly attributed to the backpacker tax debate, the fact that the government took “so long dithering around” before making a decision on the tax had an affect.
“People making plans to come on first-year visas didn’t come. We’ve got to look at how we solve this in the long term,” he said.
Federal Parliament is considering an amendment to the backpacker’s bill - Social Services Legislation Amendment (Seasonal Worker Incentives for Jobseekers) Bill 2017 - to encourage jobseekers receiving Newstart or Youth Allowance to take up seasonal work, such as fruit picking.
If the amendment is passed, the trial will begin on July 1.