00:02Temporary overseas workers are a critical part of Tasmania's fruit growing industries
00:07and the Federal Government's backpacker rule changes are already causing concern.
00:12They will be disastrous for Tasmania and I cannot say it any other way.
00:19We will have fruit rotting on the vines when we don't have people to pick it.
00:27The impact is expected to be different depending on the type of fruit and the length of growing season.
00:33Our short season cherry and apple picking seasons are really well suited to working holiday makers
00:39and not well suited to locals so they fill a really important role in our industries.
00:46In recent years Tasmania has increasingly used the Pacific Australia Labor Mobility Scheme or PALM which is unaffected.
00:54Pacific Islander workers make up almost half of the horticultural workforce during peak periods
01:00while there's less reliance on backpackers.
01:03But the PALM Scheme might not be able to fully fill the gaps.
01:07They can't respond that quickly so there's a lot of planning, a lot of effort that goes in from the
01:12PALM Scheme
01:12so we're already heavily reliant particularly in our berry industry which has a much longer harvest.
01:17The hospitality sector is assessing if it will be affected.
01:21The prospect of increased enforcement of visa overstaying rules worries refugee advocates.
01:27They say they often see examples in Tasmania of refugees and migrants who have received poor legal advice,
01:33are unaware that they are in unlawful situations and have well founded fears of persecution if they are deported.
01:40Even just the fear of that potentially someone knocking on their door causes great anxiety in the community
01:47and we would always take the position that everyone should have the right to claim asylum
01:51and go through a full legal and robust and fair process.
01:54Aus.
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