15 Aug 2024
As farmers and other employers across regional Queensland continue to grapple with workforce shortages, the Federal Government’s proposed reforms to Australia’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa program are now threatening to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The baby here being the 88 days of worth of regional work required to secure a second year under the WHM program, the bathwater being the exploitation of migrant workers. QFF fully supports the need for a national workforce free of exploitation and understands the concerns raised by the Department of Home Affairs in relation to migrant workers.
These concerns should not be addressed through sweeping reforms that disproportionately impact employers who are doing the right thing. Targeted reforms to address the specifics of exploitation, including a range of preventative measures to ensure WHMs understand their rights, and penalties for wrongdoers will be far more effective and not put regional employers at a disadvantage.
A recent report commissioned by the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), Backpacker & Youth Tourism Advisory Panel (BYTAP) and Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has examined the potential economic impacts that are likely to result from the scrapping of the WHM program’s 88 days of regional work requirement.
The report has estimated that if 20,000 of the more than 200,000 WHMs living in Australia each year were to decide not to work in the regions, there would be a direct economic impact of $203 million per year, and an average of 939 direct job losses with more across the supply chain.
At an industry level these costs are far more substantial. Research from Deloitte in 2020 found that in the absence of WHMs the horticulture industry would suffer losses of $6.3 billion, impacting an estimated 127,000 jobs across the supply chain.
Putting aside those confronting costs and job losses, removing the 88-day incentive scheme would undermine regional Australia which relies on this valuable workforce to fill jobs which many domestic workers are unwilling or unable to fill.
The scrapping of the regional work requirement undoubtedly presents a bleak vision for Australia’s agriculture and tourism sectors. However, there is still hope for the incentive, with the Federal Government showing willingness to engage with agriculture on workforce reforms, most notably in their recent decision to overturn changes that would have made the PALM scheme unworkable for agriculture.
QFF and our peak body members continue to engage with all levels of government to advocate for outcomes that will benefit agriculture and not leave regional communities disadvantaged.
The post Throwing the baby out with the bath water – Working Holiday Maker visa reforms appeared first on Queensland Farmers' Federation.