Agricultural Workers to Quarantine at Half Price in Hotels

According to the New South Wales government, it will be subsidizing half of the hotel expenditures of agricultural workers. This is done in order to boost the economy and fuel the horticultural domain. If recent data is properly analyzed, crop losses have exceeded the $52 million mark since last December. This is primarily due to the shortage of workers.

Hari Yellina, of Orchard Tech, has opined that many Australian farmers had to leave their produces to rot because of unavailable labour. The backpackers have returned to their country due to the closure of Australian borders. Hence, there are not enough agricultural workers to support the seasonal harvest. In fact, as announced by the government, the agricultural sector is the only one to receive this privilege.

This welcome step is extremely necessary as this industry is essential to boost the economy of the country. Moreover, these agricultural workers are not included in the state’s 3,000 person-per-week arrivals cap. Even though this is an issue that the government has been struggling with every year, the pandemic has increased the intensity of the problem. Firstly, it is difficult to search for workers and then arrives the hurdle of getting them into the country while their visas are approved. Hence, this step is extremely crucial to boost the economy.