A POTENTIAL economic crisis has been averted with the NSW Government backflipping on its ban on seasonal workers in the state.

Member for Mildura Ali Cupper said the government’s decision to no longer allow visa holders access to NSW farms for seasonal work had risked citrus being left to rot and potentially tens of millions of dollars.

After days of lobbying alongside industry groups, Ms Cupper said it was pleasing the NSW Government had finally agreed to allow permits for seasonal workers.

“It is alarming that the government did not understand the seriousness of locking out visa holders from seasonal work,” Ms Cupper said.

“These visa holders in many cases have been living in Mildura for months working on farms, so they posed no health risk at all.

“I have spoken several times to Citrus Australia CEO Nathan Hancock as well as Victorian Regional Development Minister Jaclyn Symes, who has been handling the border issues, and NSW Cross Border Commissioner James McTavish this week and we have all been pressuring the NSW Government on this issue.

“Common sense has finally prevailed.”

Ms Cupper urged the NSW Government to consult with regional business, industry and community leaders prior to making any further restrictions on the NSW/Victoria border.

“When the NSW Government announced the first round of border restrictions we asked them to ensure there was proper consultation if they were tightened,” she said.

“That clearly didn’t happen this week when they just dropped their bombshell on us that the permit system was tightening further. This is unacceptable and caused incredible stress in our communities, which was totally unnecessary if they instead did proper consultation in the first place.”