Nationals leader David Littleproud has cleared some air around the Coalition's promised migration clampdown, guaranteeing that the agriculture visa will be revived should it win the forthcoming federal election.
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Speculation has mounted over the Coalition's plans, designed to free up the supply of homes to try to fix the nation's housing crisis, since federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton used his May 16 budget reply speech to put a tranche of immigration cuts on the table and set the scene for a potential year-long debate on population policy.
Under the proposal, a 37 per cent reduction in net overseas migration in mid-2026, before dropping to 25pc, would include a mix of fewer permanent visas being issued, or a drop from 185,000 to 140,000, along with fewer temporary migrants, including working holiday makers and students, being cleared to enter the country.
Mr Littleproud told ACM-Agri the Coalition Agreement would contain a carve out to address acute worker and skills shortages across agriculture, but it is not known how this could impact allocations for other labour-strapped sectors like education, aged care, health and tourism.
"It is possible to reduce migration numbers while also supporting our farmers and ensuring our agriculture industry can thrive - we just need to pull the right policy levers," he said.
"The Coalition will cut migration numbers, to help ease housing shortage pressures, while also prioritising workers where they are needed most.
"This means prioritising worker shortage numbers in the regions and giving farmers the tools they need, a future Coalition Government will bring back the Ag Visa."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has called on the Coalition to "fully explain" its migration plan, however Mr Littleproud said it was still being finalised.
Labor has also pledged to slash the number of overseas workers and students allowed to come into the country. Net overseas migration is the difference between the number of overseas arrivals staying in Australia for longer than a year, and the number of long-term and permanent resident departures in that period.
The Coalition's Ag Visa, championed by the Nationals, was announced in 2021 and intended to be demand-driven in bringing skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers from Southeast Asia to temporarily fill workforce gaps in Australia.
However, it was dismantled by Labor shortly after its May 2022 federal election victory with the party instead relying on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme for farm workers.
The government is also under fire for looming changes to the PALM scheme that some producers claim will put it out of reach.
Mr Littleproud said the "clearly unworkable" scenario from July 1 will force farmers to offer 30 hours per week, every week, to PALM workers.
"Agriculture is seasonal and weather dependent, on top of the fact that short-term workers are already receiving an average of 42 hours per week, making the added bureaucracy futile," he said.
Some Pacific leaders have also flagged capping their nation's contribution to the scheme before it causes domestic labour shortages.
Worker supply issues crippled many farm businesses during the COVID-era as supply chain shocks and aftershocks stopped the flow of workers and, with geopolitical issues and surging input costs, some producers could not afford a full suite of labourers.
Agriculture is extremely reliant on skilled overseas workers and is the second highest proportional user of skilled visa workers only behind the information technology sector.
Farm leaders have said that targeted visa settings and plans to attract more seasonal workers to Australia were needed to address the industry's worker shortages, particularly after the government removed rules forcing UK backpackers to perform farm work to extend working holidaymaker visas.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers Federation has warned both Labor and the Coalition against short-sighted migration plans that could exacerbate agriculture's workforce challenges, calling for Australia's migration program to be "strategic and responsive to the needs of key industries like agriculture".
No workers arrived under the Ag Visa scheme before the 2022 election, although more than 1000 Vietnamese labourers were finally approved this year to come into the country two years after a Memorandum of Understanding was inked with the Southeast Asian nation.
The workers were the first and only group given a tentative green light under the program.
