ATEC on warpath over visa scheme
The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has pledged to go to war against any restrictions on the Working Holiday Visa program in light of Trade Union pressure on the Government to restrict skilled migration and protect Australian jobs. ATEC Managing Director Matt Hingerty said there had already been discussions about restricting the Standard Business Sponsorship (457) Visa and pledged to fight any moves to impose quotas on existing countries within the WHV scheme.
“There is some pressure already on the Government from the Trade Unions to limit specified work visas. My concern is it will spill over to temporary Working Holiday Visas. If there are restrictions placed on those, we will draw a line in the sand and go to war.”
Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel (BTAP) Chair Peter Burke said there had also been hints from Washington that the US Government was looking to restrict the fledgling Work and Holiday Visa scheme, but insisted BTAP would lobby hard in support of the current reciprocal arrangements. He added any cuts to the WHV scheme would be a “crushing blow to the only sector of the tourism industry which is doing well”.
Burke said Working Holiday Makers create more jobs than they fill and plug gaps in the labour market, even during a recession and rising unemployment.
“In places like the Northern Territory, it doesn’t matter how bad the situation gets, there will always be jobs only backpackers will do.”
Without the program, the image portrayed to Australia’s offshore markets would be entirely different, he added.
Some 154,148 Australian Working Holiday Visas were issued in the 2007/2008 financial year.
By Alice Terlikowski · May 6th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Comments
7 May 09
1:30 pm
The Trade Unionists continue to justify their own jobs by jumping up and down about foreigners taking Aussie jobs. These Unionists should get out there and see how farmers try to get Aussies to do a decent days work picking fruit, packing boxes or cleaning toilets. Aussies simply do not apply for the hard jobs, the highly seasonal jobs, the dirty jobs. Employers take on backpackers out of necessity. Don’t restrict the WHV’s, simply encourage Aussies to do the work themselves, and Australian employers will be extremely happy to employ Australians.
7 May 09
1:31 pm
Does the WHV scheme represent a threat to Australian jobs?
I would think not in most cases. Generally, Australian employers are seeking Australians to fill roles in their business, as it can be costly to retrain people for the same position on an ongoing basis. From our experience, backpackers are getting placed into jobs that are not being filled by Australians even though we are facing higher unemployment. The reason is because the backpackers are taking jobs in ‘more remote’ areas (i.e. cattle stations, country pubs, roadhouses, areas struggling to attract skills for shorter periods at reasonable pay rates) and by employers who are seeking high volumes of workers for short, specified times (i.e. harvest work). Australians at this stage is unable to meet the demands of these types of employers for various reason as they are facing issues associated with geography and the type of work. Given the uncertain nature of the economy, things may change, but for the foreseeable future, the large hurdles many employers outside of city areas are facing in the recruitment and retention of staff will not be overcome by the Australian workforce and the WHV scheme will continue to fill this gap.
15 May 09
2:06 pm
I do not think that the Government has said they will axe WHVs – they have said they will axe 7,000 from the 350,000 skilled migration visas and this is no bad thing in the short term. In the long term it is bad news for the country because these people will pay the taxes to keep us in our dotage.
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