The Team’s Seasonal Workers Incentives Trial (SWIT) started on July 1 and resulted from a deal between the Coalition government and the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) late last year to help finalise the passing of legislation on the controversial backpacker tax.

The government’s two-year trial will allow up to 6000 Australian job seekers to do seasonal horticultural work and earn up to $5000 without their affecting income support payments.

It has been welcomed by a range of politicians and farm leaders as a win for job-seekers and farmers looking to fill employment gaps.

NXT leader and SA Senator Nick Xenophon – who has long-championed agricultural issues like improving market competition in the retail supply chain – said the trial would help more Australians into Australian jobs.

“It gives job seekers the chance to try work in an orchard or a market garden so they can get a taste for the work and find out for themselves whether like the industry,” he said.

“People can earn up to $5000 per annum on Newstart or Youth Allowance without risking being cut off from income benefits and having go back on the Centrelink roundabout.”

NXT Mayo MP and the party’s agricultural spokesperson Rebekha Sharkie said the trial could be a boon for orchards and market gardens in her SA electorate because of region’s proximity to the labour market in Adelaide.

“This is also about giving farmers a wider and deeper pool of potential employees,” she said.

“Nationally the government statistics show that where there are large numbers of backpackers employed, those regions also have high numbers of people on Newstart.

“This trial will help to break down those barriers to employment.

“Job active providers are also offered incentives under the trial, receiving remuneration for providing appropriate people - people who are ready and able to do the work, so they are not wasting farmers’ time.”

The National Farmers’ Federation said the federal government’s SWIT would help encourage job seekers to take up short-term work placements of six weeks in the horticulture industry, without affecting their existing income support payments.

NFF CEO Tony Mahar said the horticulture industry faced particular challenges in attracting staff, given the seasonal and transient nature of the work required.

“For this reason, the industry relies heavily on overseas workers to ensure sure what is grown can be harvested and sold and not left to perish,” he said.

Mr Mahar said the industry would always support an “Australian jobs first” approach and welcomed this initiative to attract more workers to the sector.

“The NFF awaits the outcome of the trial and hopes this program will help to alleviate some of horticulture's labour woes,” he said.

WA Liberal MP Melissa Price said the Trial offered a range of incentives for unemployed people to undertake seasonal horticultural work to help them gain experience and improve their skills.

“This is exactly the sort of program regional Australia needs right now, something that mobilises our unemployed, rather than using backpackers, and gives them some skills while providing a proper incentive for business owners to put them on,” she said.

“This is a win-win for local workers and growers in the horticultural and farming industries as they often are in need of short-term labour during peak times.

“This kind of work offers excellent practical opportunities for people keen to build their skills and gain work experience.

The Trial also offers a potential travel allowance of up to $300 each year, if participants undertake qualifying seasonal horticultural work more than 120 kilometres from their home while employment service providers can receive $100 per week for up to six weeks a year for each eligible person that they place with eligible farmers.