The 43 per cent cut to regional long-stay Working Holiday Maker visas announced by the Federal Government today to reduce the official Net Overseas Migration figure will have a devastating impact on regional Western Australia.
Longer-stay tourists who spend more than 12 months in Australia on a Working Holiday Maker visa are officially counted as “migrants,” even though they hold temporary visas that do not allow permanent residency and must ultimately leave Australia.
Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall said the cuts to longer-stay regional Working Holiday Maker visas will see regional WA lose 4,500 backpackers working in peak seasons, costing at least $62 million in tourism spend and 425 local Australian tourism jobs.
More than 5,000 small regional businesses have signed a petition opposing the cuts to longer-stay tourist and Working Holiday Maker visas.
A recent Tourism Council WA survey of 700 Western Australians found 89 per cent want the number of Working Holiday Makers to increase or stay the same.
“Western Australians do not see backpackers as migrants. They see them as the tourists and seasonal workers who keep regional WA running,” Mr Hall said.
“The cuts will be most severe for Exmouth, Broome, Kununurra and northern WA, which currently attract backpackers to work in tourism to earn a third visa.”
Mr Hall said around 68 per cent of Working Holiday Makers arrived via Sydney or Melbourne and took more than a year to reach WA, meaning a shorter cap would push many backpackers out of the country before they ever set foot in WA.
“Removing the second and third visas strips away the incentive backpackers have to keep working in regional WA, filling the seasonal gaps the local workforce simply can’t cover,” Mr Hall said.
“Towns like Broome, Exmouth and the Kimberley region will be gutted during peak seasons. Businesses will cut opening hours, wear higher costs, and turn visitors away, at the exact time of year they’re supposed to be making their money.”
Mr Hall said WA was more exposed than any other state, with regional destinations spread across vast distances and reliant on workforce needs that greatly vary with the seasons.
“Tourism Research Australia data shows backpackers stay more than eight times as long and spend more than twice as much per trip as other international visitors, because they can earn as they travel,” Mr Hall said.
“They are not competing with Western Australians for rentals or home ownership. They live in hostels, caravan parks, camping grounds and worker accommodation.”
Mr Hall said Working Holiday Makers were the deckhands on Exmouth’s whale shark boats, the bar staff pouring beers in Broome, the pickers in South West vineyards, and the workers keeping regional bed and breakfasts open.
“They are not filling gaps, they are holding up entire regional economies. They serve the Western Australians who turn up for a well-earned holiday, and they carry operators through peak periods like school holidays,” Mr Hall said.
