Weren’t all the Indians taken to the Pacific Islands by the British to work due to the intrinsic laziness of these people? When it comes to doing work the Pacific Islanders hardly have a good reputation for it!

For starts they could stop rioting every few years in their cities and burning down every building in site. This would be a good starting point for increasing their economic prosperity.

I am not sold that taking hundreds of thousands of these people into Australia will solve any of their problems

Yes, and maybe Woolworths “et al” could pay farmers reflective prices, might that not help? Fruit picking is not a career choice for many workers.
Keep in mind the federal Government has included a dispensation into “pay as you earn” tax obligations especially to encourage workers to the orchids for picking. That is an incentive worth exploiting if the worker is employed for a “working holiday” situation outside his normal employment.
The big downside in need of repair is accommodation expenses for itinerate workers. The days of a free camp site on the road side or TSR have long been absorbed into exploitation of “Market forces”.
In short, fruit picking is a job not worth the effort and discomfort!
Dear oh dear, a negative influence of market forces.

Stephen Holden wrote:

"The NFF has asked for a working visa that allows Pacific Islanders to only work in the horticultural industry, a subsector of the wider agricultural industry. This is an insult to Pacific Islanders. The NFF wants to lock an ethnic group into one special category. In other words if you’re a Pacific Islander you pick fruit."

If we are to allow more immigrants, which I think we should not, we should not have two classes of workers. As I wrote on Friday 16 May in a letter to the Courier Mail that was not published (http://candobetter.org/node/517#UnpublishedLetter) :

Dear editor,

If the Pacific Island guest worker scheme works, as Steve Lewis ("Guest workers a foreign policy challenge", 16 May) claims it will, it will, in effect, be an apartheid labor scheme. If it breaks down as many fear, it will result in a further permanent increase to our population and make worse all the resultant problems which fill the pages of the Courier Mail almost every day of the week - traffic congestion, housing unaffordability, the water, health and eduction crisis and the ever growing financial costs of fixing them.

If we accept claims about there being a labour shortage, then why don't, we instead of further degrading our quality of life, change our priorities as a society. For example, must we dig up all of our mineral wealth now, when it is clearly making global warming worse? Indeed reducing our mineral exports and generous foreign aid programs, including aid for birth control, would be far better ways to help Pacific islanders.

Pcannon,
The reason that farmers pay you crap wages is simply because they get paid little for their produce. It is an everlasting battle for farmers to justify their continuing in business.

As you say things changed about 2 decades ago. Until then the pay was cash and tax free, which made it worthwhile for those willing to work. Vic Rail used to run special pickers trains to the fruit areas and many workers in full time jobs took their holidays to coincide with the fruit harvest. Both male and female then went picking to pay off their house or block. It was about getting a start in life while you were young and fit. Then the Keating government decided that ALL employees had to have a Tax file Number. They sent a few inspectors out and scared the farmers into not employing those without a TFN and tax had to be taken out. This then meant that it was no longer worth the effort put in, after tax. The work incentive was gone for most and the backpackers filled the void.

Picking is really hard and hot work and I do not begrudge pickers getting paid tax free for it. I don't know if backpackers get special tax exemptions or not but the tax thing ruined it for most Aussies. Funny thing is that the tax free money the pickers used to get did not stay out of the economy for long and at least it remained in our country.

Saw a programme on a seasonal scheme run in NZ with Pacifis Islanders which may be worth looking at for implementation here.

Be interesting to get your comments on the above.

pcannon,

My late father (1911) said the [Shepparton, Vic.] farmers really exploited the intinerate workers, especiallly around the time of Great Depresssion. Today, the are argrian solicialist. All welfare is bad, except if a farm subsidy.

Naru is a case in-point its inhabitant lay back while Expats worked. Now its economy is ruined and unless someone takes them in 100 years they are going to drown.

Exploitation and Sloth.

pcannon

Thankyou! I moved to the Riverland some 20yrs ago, I was kept in employment picking and pruning.
10 acres was all you needed to enjoy a life which was casual, in the sense that fruit is seasonal and you worked your butt off for probably 9mths a year. The grower got $300 a ton for oranges and the picker if experienced, reliable and didn't mind hard work earned $170 to $180 dollars a week. Not everyones "go" but it was a good life.
The orange trees are gone, we now import nearly all, grapes are no longer hand picked, wineries pay crap and don't abide by contracts
growers all have town or winery jobs, land has trebled in price and vines are now owned by ex city folk who have super payments to back often foolish investment.
Vines are being pulled and top fruit land stands idle or grows pumpkin when they have water.
No ones going broke-yet- lots of land "for sale" signs with accompanying price slides.
Trees take ten years to produce a commercial crop and lotsa water, all the "lifestyle" people have gone, we are now surrounded by Madec would be's and the kids head for cities.
I thank goodness, not god, am 75yrs and like everyone else don't care.
The good days have gone and will never return thanks to real estate agents, water brokers and Madec and piss they call wine.
I worked alongside back packers most from europe, most great people who spent little here, they were trying to finance travel to the next country. The game was to return with the same bank balance they left home with. Not many realised how hard they were expected to work, I was glad they came for they informed me, stories are great to here while having lunch or a beer at the end of the day, or while sitting in camp beside the river.

fluff4