At the height of the resources boom the mining companies were paying really big money for fly in - fly out workers to drive giant mining trucks and keep minerals flowing to the ships waiting for them in our ports. At the same time, Australia's traditional rural industries were desperately scratching to find enough workers to keep our export industries alive.
The mining boom is over - for now - but the exports that earn us a living are still found in cattle, sheep and grain, and we are about to start importing workers from Pacific Island nations on work visas because many Australian's turn their noses up and simply refuse to work in rural industries. There is even a shortage of people to bring in seasonal crops and since 2012 the government has issued 8,600 visas on applications from seventy employers to provide a workforce of what are known as "fruit pickers "!
It is even worse in the wool industry. We are not even training enough shearers to handle the massive numbers of sheep in this country and each year we recruit seasonal teams from New Zealand, Britain and Ireland. Wool may have lost it's allure, but it is still a very important export that delivers much needed dollars to the national economy.
Australia is also one of the world's biggest exporters in the meat trade and that includes both live exports and meat in frozen form. There are many jobs going unfulfilled on cattle and sheep stations and the trucking industry is short of drivers. The entire rural sector has a labour shortage - and at the same time in the cities we have youth unemployment peaking at twenty percent !
It seems that what has changed is the way we look at jobs these days. To many people, any job is rejected unless it is located a short bus ride away from where we live. It seems preferable to just sit at home and watch TV and be sustained by the dole - than go to the trouble of travelling to where there is a labour shortage.
We have become very selective about how we earn a living. Many undertake a university course and expect to join one of the professions, but we will always have great numbers of young people who need further training to fit in and learn new skills to fill their niche in the workforce. Perhaps the time has come to make unemployment benefits unavailable to those not prepared to relocate to where jobs are available.
This also raises the vexing question of migrants. Huge numbers are clamouring to gain access to this country and the numbers are far greater than the quota we admit annually. Surely, preference should be given to those prepared to settle in rural areas with severe job shortages and it would be reasonable to expect a legal time tenure as part of that admittance contract. Not only would that avoid the risk of new arrivals forming a city ghetto, it would also tend to ease the acceptance into citizenship that occurs more readily in a small community.
The big question revolves around the obligation that the nation has the right to impose on those claiming unemployment benefits and those seeking entry to this country have when it comes to gaining benefits from the public purse. There is the expectation that at least the young and physically fit should be prepared to move to where work is available.
It is hard to justify importing what amounts to "guest workers " when we have a significant portion of the work force drawing unemployment benefits and refusing to take the steps necessary to secure the same work opportunities that are crippling our exports.
Earning a daily living comes under the heading of "mutual obligations " !
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