A popular caravan park at a West Australian tourism hotspot is going to be expanded significantly in order to accommodate seasonal workers.
The ABC reports that Busselton’s Southern Star Holiday Park has been given a $50,000 grant from the South West Development Commission (SWDC) to carry out the work.
Like many other regions, the Busselton area has been suffering housing crisis making it difficult for seasonal workers to find a place to live.
Potential worker guests would have to show a letter to prove they were being employed by a South West business.
Holiday park owner, Todd Davidson, told the ABC said he envisioned 30 to 50 people in the space.
Grape pickers re struggling for accommodation. PIC: blende12 / Pixabay
“I think they’ll have their own little community within this community, which is great,” he said. “Our accommodation has just vanished — those places they used to be able to stay and rent have all been consumed.”
Hospitality and agriculture businesses in the South West have been desperately calling out for more accommodation in the region.
Some have resorted to building their own, or booking out hostels for multiple years.
Workers will soon be heading out to the region’s wineries to pick the grapes.
But director of viticultural management firm Jim Campbell-Clause told the ABC the lack of available workers meant the harvest would be slow.
“We, like other vineyard managers, have had to talk to wineries and maybe deliver smaller volumes of hand-picked fruit,” he said. “The winery likes all the fruit to come in at the same time so they can process it all, so there’ll be some logistical issues for them at the winery … it’s a huge drama, accommodation is a real issue.”
Living in town and travelling to the wineries each day chews into the profits with the price of fuel where it is.. If the wineries have somewhere to park the van,connected to water and power there may be some people who could benefit with a bit of income.. I don’t know the ins and outs of grape picking but it must be better than picking watermelons..
Agree with Markmack. Remember the shearer’s quarters on farms? The wineries don’t need to go to that extent, just provide space for vans to park up, with or without power.
You may find wineries are reluctant to offer up “vine land” that could be under vines ,for the purpose of van parking, but it is a great idea…