For the first time in 25 years Wheatbelt farmer Julian McGill is having a “family only” seeding season.

COVID-19 restrictions mean his two sons are home from Muresk and Cunderdin boarding colleges; because of this there’s no need to use workers from outside the area or from overseas.

At the end of last week Education Minister Sue Ellery announced public school boarding houses could reopen from Tuesday May 5. Among the conditions was students will not be permitted to leave the college during term to go home to family or visit friends. This means students will be isolated for over eight weeks.

Mr McGill said this was “barbaric.”

“If they do that to my son, they may as well make him a ward of the state. You can’t put a kid through that,” said Mr McGill.

Photo Credit – York Visitor Centre website

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