Australian Farmers has warned against 11th-hour scaremongering over plans to allow Pacific Islanders to fill 22,000 seasonal horticultural jobs.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to tell the upcoming Pacific Forum Leaders summit in Niue of a pilot plan allowing guest workers temporary access to Australia.
Pacific nations have long called for Australia to ease visa restrictions and allow workers from neighbouring island states to take unfilled jobs.
The plan has the backing of the National Farmers Federation (NFF) which sees it as a solution to a farm-labour crisis.
The opposition is lukewarm on the plan saying questions need to be answered about preventing "bad elements" arriving under the scheme.
The NFF says it is frustrated that out-dated attitudes and misinformation have been seized upon in a bid to scuttle the plan.
Its president David Crombie says the coalition knows full well that over two years of discussion, debate and consultation on Pacific Island seasonal workers has already been undertaken.
