HECS discount to incentivise fruit picking as season's crops hang in the balance | Sky News Australia

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HECS discount to incentivise fruit picking as season's crops hang in the balance | Sky News Australia
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With fruit and vegetable crops on the line, Liberal MP JulianLeeser says the Coalition has proposed a HECS discount for Australian students who work in the fresh produce industry in a bid to help struggling farmers.

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With fruit and vegetable crops on the line, Liberal MP Julian Leeser says the Coalition has proposed a HECS discount for Australian students who work in the fresh produce industry in a bid to help struggling farmers. The agriculture industry relies on backpackers who join the fruit-picking workforce at an estimated worth of $13 billion. Mr Leeser said “150,000 working holidaymakers and foreign backpackers at the beginning of the year has dropped to approximately 70,000 due to the coronavirus”.

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