It seems that the ever evolving world in which we live is making it clear that not everyone will find a well paying job and become a home owner living a comfortable life. Jobs for the unskilled are fast disappearing and with that long periods of unemployment beckon. Home ownership is out of the question, and even finding reliable rental accommodation is often unaffordable.
When we look to the past we remember how ingenuity accompanied change. When the price of a car came within reach of the average person the country pub morphed into the new creation of Motel chains. We wanted accommodation where we could park the car at the door and a complete new industry emerged to meet that need.
It is surprising how many homeless people are reduced to living in their cars. Often that is the start of a downward spiral. Perhaps a relationship breaks down or a job is lost and lack of money leads to rental arrears. Perhaps a short period enjoying the hospitality of friends but it often ends with that person sleeping rough on the streets and battling to survive.
We actually have a serious worker shortage in this country - and surprisingly - the only skill required is common sense. Our agricultural industry relies on foreign backpackers to get the crop in and we are held hostage to the vagaries of the visa system. If visas become hard to obtain or the tax system becomes hostile to guest workers and they choose other destinations, our valuable fruit and vegetable industries rot in the fields - unpicked !
It is a sad fact of life that every year a portion of each Australian crop never makes it off the trees or is ploughed into the ground because of insufficient workers - and very often there is a pool of people drawing unemployment benefits in that very crop area. It is a type of work some people refuse.
This is an industry that offers a wonderful opportunity for the low skilled to earn an above average income and at the same time enjoy a fulfilling lifestyle. The fruit and vegetable industry is prolific in every Australian state and it follows the climate rotation. As one crops picking season ends another is just beginning and the work requires the workers to be constantly viewing new vistas.
It is a lifestyle that foreign backpackers accept as a way of seeing this country and at the same time financing their visit by the taking up of well paid work. Properly promoted and supported, it could be the lifeline our low skilled need. In particular, it offers an opportunity for those down on their luck and living in their cars to start a new life - and gradually upgrade to a van or more suitable mobile living arrangements.
Centuries ago, in the days of ancient Rome it was the custom to have public bath houses. It is usual for fruit and vegetable areas to lack much in the way of worker accommodation and this could be enhanced by the public provision of shower and toilet facilities for those following crop rotation. A small facility - manned when seasonal work is under way - would go a long way to bringing this industry into a recognised work opportunity.
Such a central bathhouse would tend to create a " hub " in each rural picking area with enhanced safety. Nothing is like clean toilets and the opportunity for a hot shower to promote a desirable work site.
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