The Committee was pleased to welcome Tasmania’s Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Jo Palmer and her adviser, Amanda Lovell to our February meeting where we were able to raise our concerns around housing on farms, workers compensation costs, and changes to the PALM Scheme.

In NSW, Victoria and to some extent Queensland, accommodation related to employment is excluded from the Residential Tenancy legislation. In Tasmania, if there is a charge for a person to live in accommodation, including an employee living in housing provided by the employer,  it is claimed that they are tenants and therefore protected by the Residential Tenancy legislation. This legislation provides necessary protections, but also  has minimum periods for the person to vacate the property. In an employment situation it is important that the accommodation be vacated in a reasonable timeframe when the employment is over to make the accommodation available for the next employee. Too often we are hearing that unless accommodation is available a prospective employee is not interested in the job. Minister Palmer understands our concerns and agrees with our request to exempt farmhouses from the legislation.

Concerns were also raised in relation to the increasing workers compensation premiums. Some agriculture employers are paying 20% premiums on their workers compensation insurance despite auditors stating that a premium of 8% to 9% would still provide a profit to insurance companies.

Primary Employers Tasmania will continue to pursue these policies for the benefit of our members.