Vietnam first country to sign up to Ag Visa after months of delays

The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday, however it's unclear when the first cohort of workers will arrive. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the government was working with industry to get them on farm as soon as possible.

"Vietnam's participation shows the close strategic partnership we share," Mr Littleproud said.

"There are many workers from Vietnam already in Australian agriculture who are highly regarded for their work ethic and attention to detail."

Last year, the government said it anticipate Ag Visa workers on farm by Christmas, but negotiations hit a stumbling blocks, with countries wary of signing up, which the Coalition blamed on the Australian Workers' Union for scaring nations with stories of workers abuse.

Once that deadline passed, it was expected at least one country would be signed up by the end of February.

Mr Littleproud labelled the visa as "one of the biggest achievements of the Nationals" in this term of government, and acknowledged some of his Liberal colleagues had struggled to understand the importance of the visa to bring about structural change to the agricultural workforce.

AusVeg chief executive Michael Coote said the Ag Visa was a critical piece of the horticulture labour puzzle

"The Ag Visa was never intended to be a short-term solution to issues that stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic," Mr Coote said.

"It is a long-term structural change for the industry to access a more efficient and effective workforce and reduce its reliance on working holiday makers."

Mr Coote said the industry had worked closely with the government to develop the visa, with a strong focus on high worker welfare standards.

"The new visa will only be successful if the health and safety of workers is protected," Mr Coote said.

"The Ag Visa will be a sponsored visa, which is strongly supported by industry so that only businesses that are able to demonstrate that they are fit and proper will be able to access workers through the Ag Visa.

Mr Littleproud called on Labor to make clear assurances that it will keep the visa if elected in the upcoming eleciton.

"The Ag Visa has been an article of faith for the Nationals," Mr Littleproud said.

"Despite efforts by the Australian Workers' Union and the Labor Party to sabotage the establishment of the Visa, the Nationals never gave up and pushed our Coalition partners to finalise the visa."

The Australian government has been in discussions with at least four South East Asian countries, with Indonesia the only nation comfortable identifying itself as in negotiations, and Mr Littleproud hoped other countries would also sign up.

However, Australian Workers' Union national secretary Daniel Walton said anyone who had followed the Ag Visa's slow progress over the past six months would "know to take this Vietnam MOU with a bucket load of salt".

"In the unlikely event that Mr Littleproud's able to move his Frankenstein visa out of the dreams of the farming lobby and into the real world it would be a disaster," Mr Walton said.

"If Vietnamese nationals were really to arrive in Australia on this visa they would be even more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse than previous guest workers.

"Eleven separate independent reports over the past decade have revealed endemic and widespread abuse of workers in the horticulture sector. This visa would turbo charge it."

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