Member for Wannon Dan Tehan offers hope to south-west employers struggling to recruit new staff

Member for Wannon Dan Tehan organised the worker shortage forum this week, which was attended by south-west employers.

Paul Lockwood, from Chittick's Bakery, said the business was finding it very difficult to recruit new staff.

"I'm sitting on opportunities that I cannot convert," Mr Lockwood said.

He said this was despite repeated advertising on job sites such as Seek.

Allen's Freight manager Noelene Smith said the business was in desperate need of truck drivers.

She said its job advertisements were getting views but weren't converting into applications.

"We're getting a lot of views from Melbourne-based truck drivers - because we're very short on truck drivers at the moment - but we're getting hardly any applicants and even if we do get an applicant, the first question they ask is 'where am I going to live?'"

Ms Smith said people were finding it increasingly difficult to find a rental property in the district.

She said the other issue was the high cost for staff to upskill.

Ms Smith said a truck licence could cost close to $2000 and often staff needed to take the test outside of Warrnambool.

"We've got a staff of over 100 people and I would suggest probably half of our staff only have car licences," she said.

"So if we've got guys that are filling in on runs because somebody's off sick for the day - the run would usually be in a medium rigid vehicle.

"However, that person can't drive that truck so we will park our truck for the day and have to go and get a hire truck to put someone into that because people aren't easily able to upskill."

Mr Tehan said there were a number of visas available that may allow businesses to recruit overseas workers.

However, he said there needed to be work done to simplify the system and shorten the processing times for applications.

Mr Tehan spoke about the different visas available, saying there were "myriad" options, which often made the process daunting and timely for employers.

"We need a system that doesn't have the complexity that it does," Mr Tehan said.

"It can at times be very difficult to navigate."

However, Mr Tehan said there were a number of options south-west employers should investigate.

"One of the things we were able to negotiate with the United Kingdom was anyone up until the age of 35 will be able to come and work for three years," he said.

"That is something worth noting now because the hope is that it will come in around March next year, so one of the things I would suggest - and I negotiated this agreement to specifically address some of the worker shortages - is to try and identify UK backpackers now who might be able to come in the second quarter of the next calendar year.

"The good thing is they can come out for three years and they do not have to move between regions or anything like that."

Another program that is expected to be given the green light either before the end of the year or in the first quarter of next year is one that will allow Indian chefs to work in Australia.

"That will enable us to bring Indian chefs in when that agreement comes into place," Mr Tehan said.

Another option for south-west employers was recruiting international students, he said.

"Once again this is worth thinking about because one of the things we've been able to do - especially through scholarships - is attract more and more international students to the Deakin campus here at Warrnambool," Mr Tehan said.

"The beauty of the international student visa is now the number of hours they can work has been expanded and the areas they can work in has also been expanded."

One decision by the new federal government that has disappointed Mr Tehan was the decision to scrap agricultural visas.

"The ag visa was something that we had in existence which sadly isn't going to be continued by the new government," Mr Tehan said.

"We had an agreement with Vietnam to bring Vietnamese migrants to Australia to work specifically in the ag area."

Mr Tehan said this would in turn free up more backpackers to work in the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors.

"This is something I will continue to keep advocating for."

Mr Tehan said the south-west could also benefit from encouraging migrants on refugees visa to live and work in the region.

He said trials in Nhill in Victoria and Wagga Wagga in NSW had proved successful.

Stephen Hoy and Angie Dolden from the Warrnambool City Council spoke to attendees about the Great South Coast Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA).

Mr Hoy said the program was a partnership between six local government municipalities and had been running for three-and-a-half years.

There are a range of approved occupations and there is a bid for 77 more.

Mr Hoy said it was hoped occupations in the aged care, hospitality and tourism sectors would soon be included.

He said other occupations being considered for inclusion included jobs in the finance sector, commercial cleaners and brewers.

"There are occupations in there that we wouldn't have even considered two years ago," he said.

Jae Lee, who is a director for Whales Regional Workforce, said two additional options for south-west employers were the Pacific Labour Scheme and the Seasonal Worker Program.

"The Pacific Labour Scheme, this allows workers to stay for up to four years and if they're happy after that time they can come back to Australia and work for another four years," Mr Lee said.

Workers from a number of countries including Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Samoa and East Timor can work in Australia under this program.

A number of Fiji nationals work at Midfield Meat.

"Under the Seasonal Worker Program, workers can stay at your business for up to nine months," he said.

"After nine months they can go back to their country and come back to your business the next season."

Neil Porter Legacy spokesman Matt Porter said another option for employers was opening their workplaces to students to show them the opportunities available.

The organisation's aim is to ensure young people follow a career path based on what they are passionate about.

"We're all about showing students in schools the amazing careers that are open to them so that hopefully that has the impact of employers getting extra staff."

Mr Porter said he hoped to educate students and their parents about the value of all career paths - whether that be completing VCE or accepting a traineeship or apprenticeship.

He said he believed community expectations and misconceptions around the need to have a "high status" job were encouraging some people to choose a career path they were not passionate about.

"I think there's an issue around school funding being tied to enrolments," Mr Porter said.

This meant that schools would lose funding if a student didn't complete year 12.

"I don't think schools should be penalised for that ... why isn't the school rewarded?"

Mr Porter said the organisation was recently involved with an open night for SWI Engineering.

"They contacted us because they were having trouble getting employees," he said.

"We held an open night and invited youth and their parents.

"We had 45 people attend and from that night SWI employed two full-time apprentices and eight applied for school-based apprenticeships."

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