The Harvest Labour Services – Reforms to encourage Australian job seekers to take up seasonal work measure announced in the 2019/20 Budget is a $24.1 million investment over four years aimed at encouraging more Australian job seekers to take-up seasonal work. Existing Harvest Labour Services (HLS) and the National Harvest Labour Information Service (NHLIS) contracts are due to end on 26 June 2020.
The Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business has prepared a Consultation Paper, Harvest Labour Services – Reforms to encourage Australian job seekers to take up seasonal work, which can be accessed HERE.
The Consultation Paper provides an opportunity to express your views on the future of HLS and how the Government can best support Australian job seekers to access seasonal work opportunities and assist growers to find suitable workers.
The HLS program aims to link workers (i.e. both working holiday makers and Australian job seekers) with seasonal harvest jobs to meet seasonal peaks in employer demand in locations across Australia that do not have adequate local labour supply to meet this demand. Supporting the HLS is the NHLIS, which provides comprehensive, up-to-date information about harvest work opportunities, working conditions, transport and accommodation around Australia through the Harvest Trail website and Harvest Guide.
Details on how to provide feedback are on the Department’s webpage. Please note that submissions close at 12 noon, Thursday 22 August 2019.