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Speaker 1: Mix one four point nine three point sixty coming to

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Speaker 1: your love today from the Darwin Waterfront and it is

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Speaker 1: all part of the Supercars. It's a fantastic time to

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Speaker 1: be in Darwin. And we know that the Merlin Dahwen

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Speaker 1: Triple Crown it runs across three days out at Hidden Valley.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be a fantastic event that there's so

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Speaker 1: much happening as well. In the lead in and today

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Speaker 1: we'll racing fans. You've got the chance to get up

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Speaker 1: close with your favorite drivers and riders before heading out

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Speaker 1: to Hidden Valley for a weekend of non stop adrenaline

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Speaker 1: pumping motor sport. And if you want to come down

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Speaker 1: and check out some of the vehicles as well, you're

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Speaker 1: able to do so. The Hot Wheels vehicles are here.

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Speaker 1: There's one of the Nitro vehicles here as well, actually

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Speaker 1: a couple of them. There is a lot to see already,

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Speaker 1: but we're down here at the beautiful waterfront where there's

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Speaker 1: plenty of lovely locations to come and eat. If you

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Speaker 1: want to come down and have a coffee as well,

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Speaker 1: you're able to do that. Joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: right now to talk more about the changes to the visas,

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Speaker 1: which we heard about yesterday with the Federal Minister and

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Speaker 1: Tea And I'm joined on the line by NT Farmers

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Speaker 1: CEO Paul Burke. Good morning to you, Paul, Good.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie, Good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, well, Paul, I know that NT Farmers have welcomed

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Speaker 1: the government's commitment to introduce an agricultural visa. The visa

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Speaker 1: is going to allow people from certain countries to work

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Speaker 1: on Australian farms and enhance the value of well the

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Speaker 1: farming industry tell us a little bit more about how

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Speaker 1: the visas are going to work.

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Speaker 2: Thanks, Courtie. So the visas is something that the industry

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Speaker 2: has been fighting really hard for over a decade now.

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Speaker 2: We've talked on this show a lot around our shortage

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Speaker 2: of workforce. So this opens up additional countries. So it's

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Speaker 2: all asy in country. So previously, with the Seasonal Worker

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Speaker 2: Program and the PLS program, we've been confined to Pacific

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Speaker 2: rim nations. So now this opened it up to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,

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Speaker 2: so we've got a larger pool of people to pick from.

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Speaker 2: And in addition to that, it allows a little more flexibility.

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Speaker 2: So this visa will allow multiple entries so people can

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Speaker 2: come and do a season, go home, and then come

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Speaker 2: back and do pruning, go home and then come back

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Speaker 2: and pick again. So it gives us a lot more

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Speaker 2: flexibility and allows us a mobile workforce coming back and returning.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and hopefully it really does help out with that

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Speaker 1: workforce shortage. But Paul, how soon do you anticipate that

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Speaker 1: these visas will really get underway or No? I asked

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Speaker 1: the Minister Dante and about that yesterday, but no sort

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Speaker 1: of clear date. Has there been much more information flow

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Speaker 1: through in the last twenty four hours.

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Speaker 2: No, sadly not. We do know that it won't be

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Speaker 2: available for the mango season this year, which really means

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Speaker 2: we need to sort out a quarantine option for this

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Speaker 2: year for seasonal workers program, and that's going to be

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Speaker 2: critical for too long now that's been pushed up and

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Speaker 2: down the line and we don't have a clear pathway

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Speaker 2: to bring people in this year, and we need to

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Speaker 2: resolve that as quickly as possible. But certainly the ag

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Speaker 2: visa where we'd hope it will be ready for next

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Speaker 2: year and we won't be having this conversation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that the changes really or trying

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Speaker 1: to work something out for this year. It cannot come

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Speaker 1: soon enough. We've spoken about the fact that it's required

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Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. But you know those mangos, well,

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Speaker 1: I would imagine that they're growing right now and they're

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Speaker 1: not far off, I'm assuming from getting to the point

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Speaker 1: where they need to be picked. So you need those staff.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, that's right. They're a lot of at golf

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Speaker 2: ball size now and it's looking like a bumper year.

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Speaker 2: So we need a solution for this year. The ag

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Speaker 2: visas welcome news for next year, but we really need

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Speaker 2: that quarantine option.

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Speaker 1: So I mean, what are you going to do at

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Speaker 1: this point, Paul. If there isn't something that's able to

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Speaker 1: be worked out for this season, what is going to happen?

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, that's the million dollar question, and I guess

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Speaker 2: it might end up with you and I are doing

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Speaker 2: live crosses while we're picking mangoes because there isn't an alternative.

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Speaker 2: We've had the melon industry support program, which was really welcome.

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Speaker 2: We needed two hundred workers for that. We've managed to

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Speaker 2: secure sixty seven onto farm over the last seven weeks

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Speaker 2: and we're hobbling through. But workers on those farms are

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Speaker 2: working really long hours, So it's not going to be

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Speaker 2: a solution to the mango season. So we need those

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Speaker 2: workers coming in from the Pacific countries.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we must certainly do. And yeah, I've got to

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Speaker 1: I don't know that I'd be overly helpful to you, Paul.

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Speaker 1: And it is so critical that you have that you've

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Speaker 1: got workers that are actually you know that can be

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Speaker 1: trained quite well in this space too, because you've got

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Speaker 1: to make sure they're they're correctly picked and packed and

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Speaker 1: everything so that they're at the standard that they need

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Speaker 1: to be to export.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right. And we don't want to be in

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Speaker 2: a situation where we're picking fruit, we're processing the fruit, fruit,

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Speaker 2: we're packing it in a box, and then we're transporting

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Speaker 2: it all the way to our eastern and southern markets

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Speaker 2: only defined that it doesn't meet the market specs, that

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Speaker 2: to cost that growers can't afford to bear another season, Paul.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday we also we had now the Federal Minister Dan

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Speaker 1: Tea and on the show to talk about the UK

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Speaker 1: Australia Free Trade Deal and to speak about the benefits,

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Speaker 1: hopefully of that free trade deal being reached. How do

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Speaker 1: you anticipate that this is going to impact the world

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Speaker 1: of farming sector.

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Speaker 2: So there are some positives for the farming sector in

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Speaker 2: the end t I mean more broadly across Australia, there's

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Speaker 2: some very big positives. But I guess for the Northern territory,

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Speaker 2: the more skilled visa coming out of the UK will

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Speaker 2: allow us to recruit things like agronomus and technical stuff

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Speaker 2: that we can't source here in Australia, so that's certainly pleasing.

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Speaker 2: And there's some opportunities around rice that we know we

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Speaker 2: can grow here and other items. So I think there

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Speaker 2: will be some positives. It's just it's probably too early

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Speaker 2: to tell. They signed an agreement that they're progressing it.

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Speaker 2: But the devil, like everything, the devil will be in

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Speaker 2: the detail.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about that. Well, Anti Farmer's CEO Paul Burke,

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Speaker 1: it is always good to catch up with you. Always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time, mate. Thank you so very much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, and maybe one day we won't be talking

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Speaker 2: about workforce all the time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, well, I really hope that this is

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Speaker 1: able to be sorted for you guys. I know that

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Speaker 1: it is such an acute tissue at the moment, especially

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Speaker 1: when you talk about our Mango season. So yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think we both I'm hoping, well, not as much as you,

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Speaker 1: but I'm certainly hoping that we're able to get this

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Speaker 1: issue sorted.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thanks listeners, Thanks for