The Labor Party have done the work of their political masters, the AWU, effectively ripping money out of the pockets of foreign agriculture workers.

Member for Mallee, Anne Webster said Labor refused to allow passage of a bill that reduced the tax rate from 32.5 percent to 15 percent for those participating in the Australian Agriculture Worker Program.

“The bill would have brought the tax arrangements for those workers into line with those of backpackers,” Dr Webster said.

“What it shows is that Labor won’t stand up for workers or Australian agriculture, and they still stand for higher taxes.

“We should be incentivising agriculture workers to come to Mallee, but apparently Labor don’t think so. This is a preview of what would happen if Labor were to win government; there would be increased barriers to labour hire, upward pressure on the costs of living and higher taxes.”

Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, David Littleproud said Labor is doing the work of their political masters the Australian Workers Union by failing to support the reduction of foreign agriculture workers’ tax.

“The hypocrisy from the AWU is breathtaking having demonised farmers for not paying foreign workers enough over the last few months,” Minister Littleproud said.

“Disgracefully, the Labor Party has now failed to support a reduced tax rate.

“The AWU want Labor to stick their hands into the pockets of the foreign agriculture workers and grab more than double the amount of money they should.

“This is happening at a time when farmers are making decisions about what to grow and how they harvest.

“If they don’t have the workers to get their produce from the farm to the market then there will be a supply shortage.

“That means there will be fewer choices at the supermarket and higher costs at the at the checkout.