Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Employment Register) Bill 2017, but it is so disappointing to hear that the opposition has chosen not to support this bill. This is an issue I've been very vocal about as it has made its journey through this place. Backpackers are a vital component of life in regional and remote areas in Australia and they are often the lifeblood of many small country towns who struggle with the unique requirements of businesses in regional Australia.

This bill is the final act of this parliament in wrapping up this holiday-maker issue. We have agreed to changes following the crossbench agreement with respect to guaranteeing support for this legislation. This bill seeks to commit that employer registration information about working holiday-maker employers will not be made publicly available, and the Commissioner of Taxation will only be able to disclose this protected information to the Fair Work Ombudsman if an entity is suspected of noncompliance with a taxation law. This sensible proposal aims to encourage those businesses who take on working holiday-makers and to alleviate their fears that the government might have been overreaching its oversight of backpackers. As long as businesses who hire working holiday-makers are doing the right thing, doing what they're supposed to do, there should be nothing to fear in that respect. All employers of working holiday-makers will still be required to register themselves with the Australian Taxation Office. Registered employers will be able to withhold tax at the new working holiday-maker rate of 15 per cent from the first dollar of income up to $37,000. This amendment to the original backpacker tax bill does not affect the requirement of the ATO to report this information annually to the Treasurer for presentation to the parliament. This reporting process involves aggregate employer information and will not identify any working holiday-maker employers.

The working holiday-maker reform package passed by parliament last year, which I spoke on in this place, included four elements, the first being that, from 1 January 2017, all working holiday-makers were to be taxed at 15 per cent from the first dollar earned up to $37,000 and then, following that, the usual taxation rates would apply. From 1 January 2017, only registered employers are entitled to withhold tax at the 15 per cent tax rate. From July 2017, the rate of tax on the departing-Australia superannuation payment for working holiday-makers would be increased to 65 per cent. From July, the passenger movement charge would be increased by $5 per non-exempt passenger, up to $60 per passenger.

I recall speaking on this issue some time ago, as we've heard from the Labor Party, when this House passed the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Reform) Bill 2016. The amendment we're discussing today strikes a very fine balance between taxing working holiday-makers at the appropriate level for the work they do and continuing to attract them to Australia. As a government, we had to ensure that we did not create the situation that members opposite had proposed whereby working holiday-makers were being taxed less than their Australian counterparts. This, by now, is pretty much par for the course when we're dealing with the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition, when he was in charge as the minister, was the world champion or the Olympic champion or the Commonwealth champion when it came to issuing 457 visas and taking those Australian jobs.

On this side of the House, we stand up for jobs and we certainly stand up for regional communities. I'd like to acknowledge the many fabulous initiatives in the budget that we heard the Treasurer discuss last night and today. I believe 100 per cent that it's a very good budget for regional Australia. We believe in creating policies that allow regional towns and cities to grow and prosper, and, in truth, many of these towns survive because of the backpackers. I think it goes without saying that we want Australians to take those Australian jobs, but that is not always possible. Backpackers fulfil roles that many locals simply do not want to do. Perhaps this is an area of welfare reform we really need to take seriously—ensuring that Australians who are on welfare take jobs where there are jobs. But that is not the case that we face here today.

The regional communities that I represent have working holiday-makers performing every role imaginable just to keep the wheels of the Western Australian tourism industry running, without a doubt. There are some stunning statistics around what the working holiday-makers are doing when they're working and travelling around regional Australia. They may only stay in towns that they're working in for a short time to fulfil their visa commitments, but they are more likely to donate their time to organisations in those towns, they are more likely to spend their money and contribute to the economy of that town and they are more likely to do the jobs that others in the town won't do. They are indeed a very, very critical asset to keeping regional communities alive. You'd be hard-pressed not to be served by a backpacker if you went to buy a beer, a coffee or a hotel room somewhere in my electorate, so they are critically important to my seat of Durack. These hardworking young people are a resource that regional Australia simply cannot live without, and we need to stand up and advocate for the hard work that they do.

This is a result that I and many of my fellow regional Liberals—my good friend here, the assistant minister and member for Hinkler, the members for Barker, Forrest, O'Connor and Canning and many of my other colleagues—fought very hard for to make sure that we improved the lot of the backpackers and ensured that critical resource was maintained. All too often, regional Australia is overlooked and forgotten. I'm very proud that I've been able to work with the members on this side to bring this chapter to an end. The fact that this policy has already been implemented, not eight months after the election last year, is stunning. I think it indicates how important we on this side believed reform in this area to be. We are a government that's committed to responsible management of our regional communities, the backpackers who work in them and the employers who employ them.

This amendment seeks to address a couple of the key concerns of many business owners, such as that their private business information will become public. The government has heard and acknowledged their concern, and has amended the legislation accordingly—that's what this bill seeks to address. The rationale for the establishment of the register in the first place was to protect young working holiday-makers from exploitation. Young people travelling from abroad and working in Australia for the first time are particularly susceptible to predatory employers. This government has been listening to working holiday-makers' concerns and their horror stories of being trapped in communities by these predatory employers that we hear far too much about, exploiting them for cheap labour and housing them in less-than-livable hostels. But this government has addressed that concern. We are now marketing Australia as amongst the most attractive destinations in the world for young holiday-makers to live and to work.

Make no mistake: we are competing against other nations to appeal to these young people—countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. All of these countries have robust taxation systems designed to give working holiday-makers a low tax bracket. The good news is that we know that our wages are higher, our economy is stronger and our growth is faster. We can compete on an international level with these countries. Australia is leading the pack in more ways than one, but we need to ensure that we remain competitive, because we need these young people as part of our resource pool of workers.

This has been a fabulous result and is a testament to the hard work and the dedication of many regional and Liberal members in this place. As I said at the outset, I'm particularly disappointed that the Labor Party have decided not to support this bill. We on this side do support this bill. This bill is very sensible, and it certainly supports the employers and alleviates their concerns. This whole initiative is a great credit to those on this side—especially the regional members here—who support those regional communities who desperately need the backpacker community. On that basis, I commend this bill to the House.

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