Current News

Covid Safe Plan Information

Permitted work premises in metropolitan Melbourne must have a COVIDSafe Plan to continue their operations under Stage 4 ‘Stay at Home’ restrictions. It must be approved for implementation from 1:59am, Saturday 8 August 2020.

In regional Victoria, a High Risk COVIDSafe Plan is mandatory if you are an abattoir or meat processing business and a COVIDSafe Plan is recommended for other industries. Failure to comply could result in an on the spot fine of up $9,913 and up to $20,000 for serious offences.

COVIDSafe Plan FAQs - FAQs to help you understand what a COVIDSafe Plan is, whether your business needs one and your obligations as an employer.

Labour Hire COVID Safe Plan obligation
If a farmer is in the restricted area (i.e. Metropolitan Melbourne) they have an obligation to have a COVIDSafe Plan that covers their farm and all workers (including labour hire) on it during the time when they have more than five workers onsite.

____________________________________________________

New South Wales border announcement
The NSW Minister for Agriculture announced that farmers and critical agriculture workers who reside outside the border region can now access a new Highly Specialised Critical Services (Agriculture) Permit provided they:

• provide a highly specialised critical agricultural service
• are moving and working anywhere within 100kms of the NSW/ Victorian border, on the NSW side
• comply with strict conditions if staying overnight
• adhere to other safety requirements, including self-isolating when not delivering the critical service.

Holders of this permit will be able to cross from Victoria into NSW without quarantining in Sydney. NSW has advised that this change has come into effect and the new permits will be available via the Service NSW website.
 
South Australia border
The South Australian Government has announced further changes to the South Australia – Victoria border. From 12:01am Friday 21 August 2020, Cross Border Community members who ordinarily reside in South Australia at, or near, a South Australian border will not be able to enter South Australia from Victoria unless they can apply under a different category of Essential Traveller. The SA government has recently published further FAQs on the SA border restrictions. The full border Directive 11 is located here. Visit the SA Government website for more information.

Each year, the economic impact of established vertebrate pest animals in Australian is around $800 million, while weeds cost us over $4 billion in terms of production losses and control activities.

It is important to continue looking at new and innovative ways to manage the impact of priority established pest animal and weeds. The $13 million Australian Government’s Advancing Pest Animal and Weed Control Solutions competitive grant round is now open for applications.

The grant round aims to target organisations with a proven research and development capacity. The funding for this grant round is to advance a range of breakthrough control solutions that challenge traditional approaches for the control of established pest animals or weeds, by researching and developing new practices, methods and tools, or adapting existing ones for use in new or different ways. Projects could investigate developing biological controls, solutions for herbicide resistance, genetic modification technologies, chemical and non-chemical herbicides, digital, web-based and disruption technologies and electronic resources.

Applications will close on 25 September 2020. For more information, including application details, visit the Grant Connect website (https://www.grants.gov.au/) or the Department’s website.

• Professor Matt Whiting from Washington State University talks about how to manage crop load at the recent Export Workshop.
• Mike Omeg from Orchard View Cherries talks about production forecasting and cropload management at the recent Export Workshop.
• Short Video from CherryHill explaining the Dowell Pruning Method
• Steve from Chappies Orchards explains how to count buds and prune to prevent overcropping
• Simon Rouget from Koala Orchards gives a Lapin pruning demonstration

Update on the COVID Safe Plan requirements.

There has been a change to the requirements for regional businesses in relation to COVID Safe Plans.

For businesses (excluding abattoirs, meat, seafood and poultry processors) operating in regional Victoria a COVID Safe Plan is now advised, but not mandatory.

For permitted businesses operating in metro-Melbourne, a COVID Safe Plan remains mandatory.

We are still awaiting clarity on the definition of warehousing and cold storage and having a High Risk COVID Safe Plan place as it relates to agricultural industries. 

This change is documented in the updated Workplace Directions (No 2). This Directions notice also details obligations on employers. All Directions notices are available here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

More information on COVID Safe Plans is available via Business Victoria 

**Please understand that the information is changing on a daily basis and we will try to keep our members informed of all updates.

ACCC’s Murray-Darling Basin inquiry interim report

The ACCC’s Murray-Darling Basin water markets inquiry interim report has today been released and can be accessed on the ACCC website at https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries-ongoing/murray-darling-basin-water-markets-inquiry/interim-report
 
The interim report discusses a range of issues identified throughout the inquiry and sets out potential options for improving the operation of Murray-Darling Basin water markets. The ACCC welcomes your feedback in response to the interim report. Further information about making submissions can be accessed at https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries-ongoing/murray-darling-basin-water-markets-inquiry/interim-report. The ACCC requests submissions by 28 August 2020.