A GROUP of contract fruit pickers from the Solomon Islands has come to the rescue of fruit growers in the Orange district who have found themselves struggling to get enough workers to harvest their apple crops due to the shortage of backpackers this year.
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After their first day on the job yesterday at Peter Darley’s orchard he was impressed.
“They listen and learn very quickly and are good people,” he said.
“They come from a very poor country and are our neighbours, and I am pleased we can help each other out,” he said.
Mr Darley and the group’s co-ordinator and former Australian Federal Police officer Sophie Kirk, met at a horticultural conference on the Gold Coast last year.
As a resident of Papua New Guinea with strong family ties to the Solomon Islands, Ms Kirk saw the opportunity to help workers from the Solomon Islands where the unemployment rate is 75 per cent.
“We have brought with us electricians, a plumber, a graphic artist, a carpenter and restaurant workers who can’t get work at home,” she said.
“It would take them two weeks in the Solomon Islands to earn what they make here in a day picking.”
Ms Kirk said she started the process of putting together a work team about six months ago working closely with the Federal Department of Employment staff to bring the workers in on a temporary working visa scheme.
“I thought it was worth giving this program a go,” she said.
Ms Kirk said the pickers have rented accommodation in Orange and intend to stay for six months.
“For that length of time we didn’t want them camping out or living in tents, although it has been difficult getting a lease for six months,” she said.
Ms Kirk has a network of contacts in the Pacific region, including family in the Solomon Islands who were out of work.
Mr Darley said this season producers in Australia have been under pressure to find pickers.
“There are 30,000 less backpackers coming to Australia this year, as I am sure they are put off by the proposed changes to increase the amount of tax they have to pay,” he said.
Mr Darley said although some growers in the district have had negative experiences in the past with contractors, he is confident the workers from the Solomon Islands will have a positive impact under the supervision of Ms Kirk.
“I think some of rogue operators we have had here in the district before are slowly being weeded out,” he said.
janice.harris@fairfaxmedia.com.au
