IMPORTING staff to meet a shortage in labour shouldn't be happening in a country where unemployment is high and people say they are struggling to find work.
Catching up with farming friends in Reporoa recently they told me they had hired a Chilean couple and they were the best workers they have ever hired.
They are planning on bringing in another family to help milk their growing herd. They aren't the only ones bringing in staff from overseas to meet a shortfall.
It's an age-old problem it appears.
Total outrage as far as I'm concerned.
I can see why they have done it when the last team they employed failed to get out of bed on time to milk the cows, left the house they got free in a state of disrepair and their bosses disillusioned by Kiwi workers.
My friend's husband Graham told me they don't like hiring people on the dole because they are "lazy, won't work and end up stealing everything not nailed down".
How can this be? Rural life is so rewarding.
Yes you have to work your backside off, but the rewards are immense. I know first hand from all my adult children who have entered the industry. Open spaces for children to grow in, no rent on a house coming out of wages and free meat along with a care-free lifestyle.
The need for rural workers is one this country must address.
As a taxpayer, I reckon if these people collecting the dole can't be bothered getting off their backside and working then they shouldn't be getting a free hand-out.
The dole or any benefit isn't an income - it's welfare assistance to help short term. Or at least that's what it was designed for following the Great Depression of the 1930s.
This landscape has to change and it is time beneficiaries were accountable to tax payers who work hard.
Let's get it right and stop bringing in workers when we have millions of dollars dished out weekly in welfare payments.
There will always be a need, but it shouldn't be there for the lazy.
There is nothing more rewarding than going to bed at night exhausted knowing you have put the bread and butter on the table through good old-fashioned hard work.
It's an election year so we should be asking candidates what they plan to do about it.