Sassafras orchardist calls for more government support as he fails to attract pickers

John Brown had 80 pickers in the orchard, falling well short of the 150 workforce he requires.

"We need 150 workers every day for six to eight weeks," he said.

"We have a few workers from Vanuatu here and they are brilliant. We would prefer locals but they won't do the work."

On the second day, 18 of Mr Brown's 80 workers didn't turn up.

"It is the local people that didn't turn up and it is typical of the Australian workers," he said.

"That is about 30 per cent of my staff that didn't turn up. Every day we are getting further behind and that leaves us with more problems."

The best 10 pickers averaged between $320- $400 on day one, according to Mr Brown who said the argument workers weren't paid enough didn't stack up.

"The opportunity is there to make good money if you are prepared to work, but people want to come and do nothing and be paid," he said.

"There is no use in saying we are not paying enough."

Mr Brown said he had been calling on the federal government for support.

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"Our local federal member has done nothing, I was on to Gravin Pearce weeks ago. We are very disappointed we have had no help from the people in power," he said.

"The government need to bring more islanders here. That is what we need, but it is too late."

Braddon MP Gavin Pearce said he had raised the issue with agricultural minister David Littleproud every week since the pandemic broke.

I will continue to advocate for our region's agriculture sector because I know its importance in our economic recovery," he said.

"Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been working with to all sectors of our agriculture industry to help find workable solutions to the labour supply issue."

Mr Pearce said the government had shown initiative by introducing a pilot to allow seasonal workers to quarantine in their own country meaning they can start working as soon as they arrive

"To date, South Australia is the only state to join the scheme. I encourage Tasmania to do the same."

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