I’m a farmer and we desperately need staff. But I’d rather have my kids well-educated and do a few extra hours on the farm myself. We are in an unprecedented teacher shortage in Australia. With financial incentives for teaching in regional Victoria set to end on June 30, the teaching shortage is expected to exacerbate. We require urgent action to stop losing qualified teachers. 

Under current holiday visa requirements rules, passionate international teachers are being forced to leave schools, disrupt children’s education and pick fruits and vegetables on a farm for 88 days.

Given the nationwide teacher shortage, I’m urging the government to change this outdated rule to allow international teachers to teach in regional and remote schools to satisfy their visa requirements.

As a farmer, I also run an organisation that helps place casual relief teachers in schools. Every day, I see experienced teachers wasting their teaching qualifications on farms, like John Treanor, an Irish teacher with five years of full-time experience, who came to Australia for a career break with his girlfriend. Instead of using his valuable skills in a regional school, he spent three months sorting potatoes on a farm in Tasmania. 

Qualified teachers are avoiding Australia or leaving after 12 months because of this requirement. When these teachers have to leave, it adds pressure onto school principals and the Department of Education, who are already trying to combat teacher shortages and catch up after the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on our education system.

Other industries, such as nursing and specific trades, had their visa requirements changed due to COVID-19 and from the middle of next year, UK citizens will no longer have to meet the 88-day rural requirement. It is essential to extend this exemption to other international teachers as well. There is no reason education should continue to suffer. 

Sign this petition and urge the Australian Federal Government and the Department of Home Affairs to amend the working holiday visa requirements, allowing international teachers to contribute their talents and expertise in regional classrooms instead of farms. By doing so, we can better address our nationwide teacher shortage and improve educational outcomes for our children.

Don’t allow these skilled staff to be sent to farms to pick fruit. It’s a waste of talent and much needed resources to our next generation.