Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The negative impacts of the government's dithering on the backpacker tax are coming to fruition in Tasmania. Sassafras orchardist John Brown said today in my local newspaper that he expects to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fruit because of the dire shortage of backpacker labour. He is 60 pickers short and clearly states that this is as a result of the coalition's disastrous and bungled backpacker tax. Apple growers were told by backpackers last season that they would not be coming back to Australia to pick apples this season because of the government's then-proposed backpacker tax rate of 32½ per cent.

Apple and Pear Australia warned in August last year that the dithering of the government on the backpacker tax was going to hurt the industry, and here is the proof. And what happened to the $10 million advertising campaign whipped up by the government to attract backpackers to come and work here? Clearly that was a waste of money. Had the government not gagged the debate on the bill last year, they would have heard my calls for this money to be used to focus on backpacker jobs in Tasmania, WA and the Northern Territory. The government needs to tell the industry what it is doing to ensure Tasmania's apple crop will be picked in time and how it will fix the damage caused by its bungling of the backpacker tax.