Uni students with debts to pay could help Bowen farms – Whitsunday Times

UNIVERSITY students with a HECS debt could soon flood to Bowen farms in a scheme backed by a peak farming body and a federal parliamentary committee.

The Joint Standing Committee on Migration made the recommendation on Tuesday that university students and recent graduates should be given a HECS debt discount to encourage them to pick crops in regional Australia.

The scheme aims to help bolster industry shortages after it was revealed the number of available overseas workers had plunged from 140,000 to 70,000 due to COVID-19.

The National Farmers Federation backed the proposal for HECS debt relief, saying incentivising picking programs would help farmers in desperate need.

Bowen mango farmer Ben Martin, from Martos Mangoes, welcomed the …

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