Australia-Shearers not allowed into England.
AUSTRALIA-SHEEP SHEARERS FOR EUROPE.
WHEN southern NSW local Dean Lawton packed his hand piece and headed for a British summer working the shearing circuit ten years ago he became one of the first of several thousand Australians to do so.
He had very little knowledge of travel or what the three-month stint could offer, but when he found himself in the middle of an English field trimming the fleeces off crossbred sheep along side a Welsh sheep herder, he was hooked.
But at 27 years of age, three years under the visa cut off age, Mr Lawton could only squeeze in a few years on the circuit before he was ineligible.
"I am kicking myself that I did not start at 18," he said.
Today, strict amendments to Britain’s new Australian-style points-based visa system for skilled migrants means there is a danger that for Mr Lawton and the 500-odd New Zealand and Australian professional shearers who annually make the trip to Britain to work on farms, the experience may be a lost tradition.
And for British sheep farmers the loss of Kiwi and Aussie labour paints a grim picture for their ability to shear their flocks.
National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC) chief executive Jill Hewitt estimates Kiwi and Australian shearers shear about 5-6 million sheep, or about 20-25 per cent of the 25 million head flock.
"This is potentially very serious for the UK sheep industry as we are at risk of millions of sheep not being shorn within the required timescales," Ms Hewitt told Stock & Land.
"If the shearers do not come to the UK we fear that animal welfare will be put at risk."
Ms Hewitt said NAAC were in negotiations with UK Ministers to try and resolve the problems with entry clearance for shearers.
A situtaion she said was "ludicrous" and preventing "essential" work.
Once a matter of a simple work permit and a small fee for a shearer working visa, today it is a different story.
It is now $500 for the shearer, another $350 for the farmer, a mountain of paperwork, a trip to a UK visa processing bureau and a biometric identity card.
And if the shearer has dependent children or is over 30 years old, they can almost forget it.
Secretary of the shearing contractors association of Australia Jason Litchfield said the shearing shortage typified a glaring global deficiency of shearers.
"April and May should be one of the quietest periods of the year but there are just enough shearers to go around," he said.
"In Australia if we didn’t have the New Zealand transient shearer, then we too would have serious problems."
Mr Litchfield said an ageing workforce and lack of young shearers had halved numberS to about 5,500 in the past 10 years.
"It used to be a rarity to have a Kiwi in the shed, now there is a 50pc chance that guy next to you is one."
And if the shearer has dependent children or is over 30 years old, they can almost forget it.
Secretary of the shearing contractors association of Australia Jason Litchfield said the shearing shortage typified a glaring global deficiency of shearers.
"April and May should be one of the quietest periods of the year but there are just enough shearers to go around," he said.
"In Australia if we didn’t have the New Zealand transient shearer, then we too would have serious problems."
Mr Litchfield said an ageing workforce and lack of young shearers had halved numberS to about 5,500 in the past 10 years.
"It used to be a rarity to have a Kiwi in the shed, now there is a 50pc chance that guy next to you is one."
