Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Farmers CEO Paul Burke says more then 300 workers are needed this mango season and it's hoped most will come from Timor-Leste

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NT Farmers CEO Paul Burke says more then 300 workers are needed this mango season and it's hoped most will come from Timor-Leste · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory government have said that
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: they're working to bolster their international workforce pool in an
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: effort to maximize well agricultural opportunity opportunities as those mango
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  Speaker 1: as the mango season opens really for twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line to tell us a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more about how things are going NT Farmers CEO,
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  Speaker 1: Paul Book, Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Paul, Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now Paul, we are very fast approaching mango season. How
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  Speaker 1: much what are we expecting for this year?
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  Speaker 2: So we certainly and what a dry season it's been.
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  Speaker 2: It's been one of the best ones that I've experienced
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  Speaker 2: in North Australia in twenty years. So the mango season
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  Speaker 2: is looking really good. The flowering has been really strong
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  Speaker 2: and consistent throughout. We are expecting a pretty big crop
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  Speaker 2: this year and certainly larger than last year. So everything
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  Speaker 2: points to no shortages of mango dakeries for the season.
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  Speaker 1: Well that is good to hear, so plenty of plenty
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  Speaker 1: of mangoes. Are we going to be able to pick
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  Speaker 1: them all?
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  Speaker 2: Though we are still critically short, Cadie, and we've got
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  Speaker 2: positions up on our jobs board on NT Farmers and
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  Speaker 2: I think we've got three hundred and seventeen positions up.
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  Speaker 2: Last week, I think we had thirteen or fifteen applicants
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  Speaker 2: for those positions, So the jobs market is still really tight.
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  Speaker 2: We are competing across the hospitality sector, the civil sector,
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  Speaker 2: the building industry, so we're all competing for a very
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  Speaker 2: small pool of workers. So we certainly are very aware
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  Speaker 2: that growers are doing it tough trying to get a
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  Speaker 2: workforce on property every day.
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  Speaker 1: So how many, I mean, how many pickers and packers
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  Speaker 1: are we short at this point in time. I've noted
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  Speaker 1: in the media yesterday that you'd said there'd been a
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  Speaker 1: large number of advertisements go out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we've been promoting fairly heavily and trying to
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  Speaker 2: attract people to the territory. And we're still doing all
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  Speaker 2: of the normal things and trying to get local people
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  Speaker 2: into work. And we've done a lot of work with
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  Speaker 2: the refuge centers, and we've done a lot of work
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  Speaker 2: with sentenced to a job through low risk prisoners picking fruit.
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  Speaker 2: So all of those things are in place and working.
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  Speaker 2: It really comes down to now we need the bulk
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  Speaker 2: of the workforce, which is always going to come I
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  Speaker 2: think from international. So we are really focused on Team
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  Speaker 2: or Less Day being such a short distance away from us,
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  Speaker 2: and we think there's a real opportunity to strengthen our
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  Speaker 2: partnership and bring people in and out as required.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So is that some of the work that's
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  Speaker 1: going on at the moment. I understand that there is
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  Speaker 1: a bit of a delegation away at this point.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, there's a delegation which is a partnership between
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce and Northern Territory Farmers
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  Speaker 2: and the Territory government. I think they're all walking through
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  Speaker 2: customs at the moment and heading to Team or les
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  Speaker 2: Day for three days to have a conversation about closer
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  Speaker 2: links and how we actually free up some of that
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  Speaker 2: visa processing capacity to be able to split to speedily
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  Speaker 2: process visas to bring people into pick free.
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  Speaker 1: So you're obviously hoping, you know, to speed up that process,
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  Speaker 1: bring in a few more people from overseas, Like how
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  Speaker 1: many are you talking, Paul?
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  Speaker 2: So in the program that we're pitching at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: we would like to bring a thousand team or these
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  Speaker 2: people in a year, and a large component of that
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  Speaker 2: is or what's different about that is we actually want
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  Speaker 2: to go into country and do the training in country,
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  Speaker 2: so bringing people's skills coming from team or left day
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  Speaker 2: out before they get to the territory. So really focusing
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  Speaker 2: on a two way partnership that's mutually beneficial for both
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  Speaker 2: of us.
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  Speaker 1: And so how quickly do you think that you know
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  Speaker 1: that you could see that kind of workforce in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: So we know that that historically a large portion of
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  Speaker 2: our workforce did come from a team or left day Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: for this project, it's not going to be good or
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  Speaker 2: it's not going to make it for this Mango season,
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  Speaker 2: so we'll be focusing on the next Mango season. But
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  Speaker 2: we do that and you and I've spoken on the
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  Speaker 2: show nearly every year. At this time, we're short of workers.
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  Speaker 2: We really just need to make some changes and get
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  Speaker 2: on with it.
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  Speaker 1: And we know obviously that Federal Job Summit was held
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  Speaker 1: towards the end of last week and it was announced
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  Speaker 1: that there'd be an increase in the cap of migrants
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  Speaker 1: I believe it was or people able to work in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is that going to help in any way?
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  Speaker 2: Again? It will help in a small way, but there
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  Speaker 2: are so many jobs at the moment, it doesn't matter
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  Speaker 2: what business I walk into or talk to, there is
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  Speaker 2: every business owner is screaming out for staff, and that
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  Speaker 2: goes I was talking to a pool business not long ago,
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  Speaker 2: and they're short of pool cleaners. They're short of people
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  Speaker 2: to work in their retail shops. So it was across
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  Speaker 2: the board. So we go to need more than what
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  Speaker 2: was announced, But some of that could be late in
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  Speaker 2: capacity that's sitting in the Northern Territory for certain jobs,
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  Speaker 2: but we need that in international workforce if we're going
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  Speaker 2: to grow our business and grow our industries.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and my understanding is too, and you've actually touched
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  Speaker 1: on this just a moment ago, is that it's not
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  Speaker 1: just about the cap or the number of people that
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  Speaker 1: are able to come in, but it's about making sure
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  Speaker 1: the visas are processed quickly and about making sure the
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  Speaker 1: paperwork goes through quickly.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, and that's something we've been talking to government
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  Speaker 2: about extensively, both at the Northern Territory government level but
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  Speaker 2: also at the federal level for a very long period
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  Speaker 2: of time, that we need more resources in that particular
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  Speaker 2: part of government to be able to speed up the
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  Speaker 2: processing of visas.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, just back on the mango. How many kilos are
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  Speaker 1: we looking at? Do you have any idea at this
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  Speaker 1: point for the season.
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  Speaker 2: So we are talking over two and a half million
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  Speaker 2: trays in the day and regional lione, so it is
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  Speaker 2: going to be significant, So there will be plenty of
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  Speaker 2: mangoes to go around for everyone.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds that way. That is a phenomenal amount. It
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  Speaker 1: sounds like an awful lot. How does that compared to
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  Speaker 1: other years?
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  Speaker 2: So we think it's going to be between ten and
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  Speaker 2: fifteen percent up on previous years. So we also know
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  Speaker 2: that there has been significant new planning, so the mango
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  Speaker 2: industry is going to continue to grow. So that comes
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  Speaker 2: back to that workforce component again that you know, if
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  Speaker 2: we're going to grow this sector and am we're selling
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  Speaker 2: all the mangoes we can produce? Now, how are we
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  Speaker 2: going to pick them in the future. So this is
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  Speaker 2: a bit of a futuristic look at what the workforce
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  Speaker 2: might look like in thirty three, five, ten years time.
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  Speaker 1: And Paul, this is a real you know, a real
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  Speaker 1: towny question. I certainly don't know what crops are growing
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  Speaker 1: at the moment. But any other anything else, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in terms of not just the mangos, but anything else
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  Speaker 1: sort of on the on the horizon that we should
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  Speaker 1: be aware of.
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  Speaker 2: So we've managed to cobble a workforce industry or a
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  Speaker 2: workforce together to get through the melon industry. So the
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  Speaker 2: melon industry has grown and significantly over the last two
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  Speaker 2: years and just been plugging away in the background. But
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  Speaker 2: the melon industry now is worth over seventy million dollars
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  Speaker 2: to the territory. So you know, we are growing each
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  Speaker 2: individual part of the industry and all of that ties
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  Speaker 2: into that workforce conversation. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Paul, it is always good to catch up with you.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate your time this morning as always. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: very much for having a chat with us.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.