Building trust
OPINION: The war of words between Southland farmers and Environment Southland over winter grazing inspections reflects a deep lack of trust among farmers for the regional council.
The fraud involved multiple work visa applications submitted by Filipino nationals in the dairy industry.
"The dairy industry is experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, and foreign nationals, like kiwis, are part of the solution, but this needs to be done in the right way," says Federated Farmers Dairy Industry chair Andrew Hoggard.
Federated Farmers say they recognise the importance of the additional measures recently undertaken by Immigration New Zealand to ensure documents submitted in support of visa applications for work in the dairy industry are genuine. The co-op note there are comments by the Immigration Minister that he is working with officials to ensure the dairy industry is not materially affected.
"Federated Farmers is confident that the processing of visa applications will soon return to a normal pace and that with government support New Zealand's dairy industry can train and attract skilled workers from within this country and overseas."
