One of Australia's biggest fruit producers has been accused of shunning would-be harvest workers in Tasmania.
Costa Group recently advertised for hundreds of vacancies for berry picking jobs for locals in the state's north-west.
But many local residents suspected they would be overlooked by the company, which had concerns about the reliability of the region's job seekers.
The berry producer has more than 200 job vacancies to fill in the next two weeks.
Less than 24 hours after the positions were advertised, dozens of job seekers turned out for a workplace induction.
Some of the would-be pickers are among the 8 per cent of north-west Tasmanians who are unemployed.
One job seeker said he was looking for a new career.
"It's going to be hard work compared to in a kitchen but, you know, that'll be good for me." he said.
"My grandmother told me to come and get a job 'cos I was too lazy on school holidays," said another.
Costa had previously revealed plans to employ 750 people this harvest season, including backpackers and Tongan workers, and said it wanted 30 per cent of its workforce to be locals.
But jobseeker Joel Reid said he did not think locals were given a fair go.
"They say that there aren't the numbers here without going offshore to do the work and I don't believe that at all," he said.
"I think they've got way enough people here to do the work myself if you just look around."
The company had complained that many locals walk off the job within days.
Phillip Matthews from the Devonport Chamber of Commerce said that prompted calls for exit interviews to find out if they were opting for welfare payments instead.
"Then tailor the social security system so that there is a consequence in place for people that leave good paying work for no reason," he said.
But others believe penalties to welfare payments for locals who drop out of fruit-picking work are not the answer.
Burnie Community House manager Tracey Eddington-McKay said more support for unemployed people to get harvest work was desperately needed.
She agreed that a better understanding of why people leave fruit-picking jobs was needed.
"I think an exit interview is a great idea because we need to understand this industry and what needs to happen to retain local people," she said.
"It's a complex issue, a punitive approach is not the answer."
Father of two Christian Micallef said he had been on the dole for a year and had applied to Costa twice.
"No response, [I] tried contacting [them], couldn't get through," he said.
Federal MP for Braddon Brett Whiteley said he had raised the concerns of his constituents with the company.
"I've spoken to Costa again today about that and we've spoken about whether or not there are any blips in their system and I think if there are they have a responsibility to fix those," he said.
My guess is, people walk off the job once they realise how hard it is. Much easier to stay at home on the dole.
You can see why the government want to regulate unemployment benefits.
