Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I have the privilege of talking about the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Reform) Bill 2016 (No. 2). This is a very good and sensible piece of public policy that this government has worked on. It has worked through the issues and has landed on a great result for both Aussie workers and foreign backpackers. This government has consulted with farmers, including the NFF; with its own regional members, like me, who are very in touch with the regional areas; and with all the other key stakeholders around, and we have settled on a sensible rate of 15 per cent. This is something that I, together with my other regional Liberal colleagues, like the members for Barker, Forrest, O'Connor and Canning, have been fighting for. Where we have landed will make Australia an even more attractive destination for backpackers. When you factor in our comparatively higher wages and more opportunity for regional work, we are now one of the most desirable destinations for backpackers in the world. When compared with our direct competitors for working holiday-makers, we really do come out on top if we compare ourselves to New Zealand and Canada.

We need to be sensible about this issue. In my state of Western Australia we have an unemployment rate of some 6.5 per cent, but in my electorate of Durack backpackers make up a large and very important part of our workforce—filling jobs in regional towns that, regrettably, Australians simply do not want to take. This is where the balance must be struck. We need to weigh up the needs of our Australian unemployed with the needs of our small-business owners and employers in the regions and our backpackers and working holiday-makers. It is a difficult balance, and I underline that. It is difficult, but it is one I think we have found in 15 per cent.

But the members opposite have shown absolutely no spine on this matter. Just this morning they were saying that they seek to amend the ABCC legislation to protect Australian workers—yes, to protect Australian workers. But they also pushed for a backpacker tax rate of 10.5 per cent. I do not know what their rate is; I think that is Senator Lambie's rate. This would mean that Australian workers would be paying more tax than the backpackers working right alongside them. So what is it: do those opposite stand for Australian workers or not? Or do they—which is what I suspect—simply make their policy on the fly, bark at whatever government policy we may discuss and not even pretend to be an alternative government? The hypocrisy of those opposite is breathtaking and is matched only by their disdain and their disregard for the bush in Australia. Labor should hang their heads in shame. I am not even sure most of those opposite they would be able to describe what a regional or remote area in Australia looks like, let alone deliver policy that will help it to grow and prosper.

The Turnbull government is capable and confident in its reforms for working holiday-makers, which will balance the needs of Australian workers—whom we care about, and I thought those opposite cared deeply about the Australian workers—with the needs of employers and the needs of backpackers.

This legislation is of immense importance in my election of Durack, with a large seasonal workforce right throughout the five regions of mid- and north Western Australia. I doubt that there are many other electorates in Australia that rely on a diverse backpacker workforce as much as my electorate of Durack does. I am very delighted that this government has struck such a sensible, balanced deal and we can have some closure and security for our working backpackers and for their employers. Backpackers work in a wide range of industries, performing a whole host of functions and jobs which many Australians simply will not do. I am not happy about that, and I am sure everyone who sits in this place is not happy about it, but that is the unfortunate reality.

Working backpackers in my electorate make coffee in Geraldton, they pick bananas in Carnarvon, they pour pints in Karratha, they work on cattle stations in the Kimberley and they also do considerable farm work in the Wheatbelt. Without working backpackers, regional life as we know it would simply grind to a halt. They are often short-term propositions but they almost universally come into town with a positive mindset, a willingness to work and a vitality of spirit that enriches whichever community they happen to land in. Far too many Australians are unemployed, but the fact is that Australians will not take these jobs in regional areas. I believe that until we get welfare reform which does not disadvantage welfare recipients from taking such seasonal and regional work, we will see this sorry story continue.

But we do need to protect those who are working side by side with our working backpackers, the ones who are out there doing whatever job they can get to provide for themselves. I thought that is what those on the opposite side stood for, but I am very alarmed that that is not what they appear to stand for. We need to encourage these people to continue to do whatever work they can get, to pull themselves up through their work and move on to bigger and better things in the community in time. That is why we cannot allow working backpackers to be paying less tax than their Australian counterparts, as suggested by those opposite.

A rate of 10.5 per cent is supported by Labor. It was not their idea—it was Jacqui Lambie's idea and they are supporting Senator Lambie—but it would mean that no Australian would get a job over a backpacker. That is just a ridiculous outcome in regional Australia. Surely we need to be encouraging the complete opposite. We cannot tax our working backpackers less than their Australian counterparts for the same work. That is unfair, it is unreasonable and it is un-Australian.

I am particularly proud that we have also introduced the $10 million global youth campaign to encourage young people to come and live and work in Australia. Spearheaded by Tourism Australia, industry and travel partners are now gearing up to sell the message to the world that Australia is a destination for working backpackers and that they are welcome. This, of course, is a fantastic result for regional Australia and this is a great outcome for the Turnbull government. I commend this bill to the House.

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