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Macdonald defends DPI cuts

The Primary Industries Minister has defended his Government's decision to close eight agricultural research stations and shed 200 jobs from the DPI through a voluntary redundancy program.

The Griffith, Temora and Condobolin stations are among those marked for closure.

Ian Macdonald says tough economic times mean every department has to share the load.

You can listen to an extended interview with the minister by clicking on the link to the right of this page.

Migrant worker scheme confirmed

Mary Goode

Despite concerns that the Pacific Seasonal Worker Scheme would be scaled back, and Griffith no longer included, the scheme will get underway as planned before Christmas.

That will be the as a pre-pilot program, and it will take place in Griffith and also in Swan Hill in Victoria.

The pre-pilot will mean 100 workers from Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu will start work in Australia for the summer harvest.

Speaking at a senate inquiry in Canberra yesterday, Graham Caters from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, said the full pilot program will start next July and go for three years.

Over that time 2,500 visas will be given out, with about 830 Pacific Island visa holders working in Australia at any one time.

Labour hire companies will be the direct employers of the workers, and will distribute the workers to horticulture growers.

Representatives from the Pacific Island countries will be in Australia next week to sign the agreements.

Some rain for Riverina, but timing's all wrong

Farmers in the Riverina have once again suffered low yields and reduced quality because of another poor season.

The Department of Primary Industries' district agronomists say low rainfall has meant patchy crops, with farmers in some regions bringing in only a few hundred kilos of grain per hectare.

There's been the threat of locusts, unexpected frost damage to contend with at Finley, and low irrigation allocations for general security across both the Murray and Murrumbidgee.

And now, farmers who've been praying for rain all year are desperately hoping it will stop, so their harvest won't be ruined. For graziers though, it means more feed.

For better or worse, though, the rain damage to crops has so far been minimal.

The reason? The Riverina, once again, just hasn't had much rain.