As the country's dairy industry battles labour shortages, a West Australian prison is working to help fill those gaps by training workers behind bars.
Steve carefully kneels down and scratches the head of Googly Eyes, an eight-week-old calf, as the morning sun shines down on the Western Australian farm where he works.
The cows produce 5,000 litres of milk a day, which is enough to supply all of the prisons across WA: from Broome in the Kimberley to Albany in the Great Southern."I'm reliable. I can work unsupervised. I can take orders well," he said. "I know fellas previously who've completed the dairy operations that are now working in Harvey, doing what they did here.Alli Small says the program equips prisoners with skills to help give them a fresh start when they're released.
"If we can give them the tools to be employed on the outside, it definitely reduces the percentage rate of them coming [back]."Karnet Prison Farm dairy officer Adam Gregory said the program also helped with prisoners' personal development. WA Farmers Dairy Council president Ian Noakes said the industry had not stabilised after the COVID-19 pandemic."It's even got to the stage where it's probably forcing a couple of people to give up and say, 'I'm not going to be a dairy farmer anymore because I can't find suitable labour.'"Mr Noakes has previously employed former prisoners at his farm and encourages other dairy operators to do the same.
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