National Service

Listening to "Australia all over" this morning the subject of Farm Producers unable to get workers came up.
They were talking about a severe shortage of workers due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Why on Earth should these restrictictions impact on food producing farms ?
Anyone 17 or older & unemployed should have to work for at least a season as part of easing into a National Sercvice scheme.
They're effectively isolated on farms so, the COVID-19 restrictions are in fact in place as the workers would not travel willy nilly,.
There's a very real threat of lost food production due to unavailable workers.
What could possibly be an objection for getting the snowflakes off their sofa & away from their video games & out to a farm. They'd be alongside new people their age & away from the status quo which distracts them from thinking for themselves in suburbia. The funding wasted on them by Centrelink could instead be put to better use of taking them out to the farms where they can get away from COVID-19, get fed & have a roof over their head.
It would expose them to & offer them a foot in the door to responsible thinking & a healthier mentality ! Many would find a way to kick their drug habits at the same time !
A win for all !

The reason that there is a shortage of farmworkers is low wages, 20 years ago people, whole families, used to follow the cycle of bush work and collect their wages cash in hand; this made the exercise worthwhile but the Government stepped in and made the employers deduct tax, the result was a sudden shortage of workers because it was no longer profitable to work, far better to stay home, unemployed, and save all that travel expense and the upsets of following a nomadic life.

Don't you get it? A National Service Scheme is something that the younger generations will oppose at all costs. Fortunately it's electoral suicide because freedom loving Australians won't give a party that supports it a higher preference than one that opposes it.

Work for the dole. No fruit picking or whatever needs to harvested, no dole. I don't like the idea of National Service under any circumstances.

A National Service Scheme is something that the younger generations will oppose at all costs.
Aidan,
Those who are employed won't need to participate at this stage but depending how the scheme works out after a couple years, things may change & or may need to change. The main thing is to solve the dilemma of young people roaming the streets or wearing out their parents' sofas.
I suggest people should give a thought to those who aren't as fortunate & would prefer to have a bed to sleep in after a good feed rather than have well-off others push some indoctrinated idealism from the comfort of their Public Service salary paid off homes !
The young people you're talking about aren't the ones being cold & hungry at night, you're talking about the snowflakes of the well off who need to be experiencing work & discipline as soon as it becomes clear that their learning grades fall. Those who would embrace such a service won't need to serve because their mentality has already got them into employment !

Peusdo-individual,

These are hard times and the farmers need all the low paid Chinese migrant workers they can get their hands on.

I saw on TV that farmers are offering $200 a day to people to travel from the cities to pick fruit and veg.

Problem is that these workers have to pay for their own transport, accomodation, food, etc., etc., which means they will probably end up with about $100 a day in their hand which goes in rent and bills back home. All up working for these farmers will probably get them the financial satisfaction of a Big Mac for their efforts.

Or else just hang in there until Scott Morrison can force the states to open their borders allowing him to open the international border to bring in cashed up Chinese to feed the economy and low paid workers from Asia.

And pseudo-individual, please don't embarrass yourself by telling us that this is all news to you.

Tempting offer pseudo-individual. Why don't you and your relatives hop in a car and do it if you think it is such a great offer?