The move comes after business events and tourism bodies warned that both sectors employ significant numbers of staff on working holiday visas in order to scale up during peak business times.
The federal government will introduce a cap of 45,000 second-year working holiday visa extensions and an even lower cap of just 5,000 for those looking to extend their stay for a third year.
For caparison, 57,000 second-year visas were issued last year as were 31,000 third-year visas.
UK working holiday makers will not be subject to the ballot system, due to a free trade agreement between Australia and the UK. However, there will be a slowdown in the processing of working holiday visas for UK citizens, effectively putting a limit on working holiday makers from the UK in Australia too. Since the free trade agreement was signed post-pandemic, UK working holiday makers in Australia have swelled to 80,000.
Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke announced the working holiday visa ballot system in a National Press Club address on Thursday, as part of sweeping changes to bring down net overseas migration to Australia.
Burke did confirm that the introduction of the WHM ballot system would see visa processing times speed up again.
Australia Business Events Association CEO, Melissa Brown, expressed concern over the changes.
“We’re pleased the government has recognised the need to address visa processing delays, which is something the business events industry has been calling for,” said Brown.
“However, we’re concerned about the new restrictions on working holiday makers staying for a second or third year.
“By that point, many have gained valuable experience and businesses have invested time in training.
“Our venue, supplier and organiser members rely on working holiday makers to deliver major events and experiences across Australia.
“The business events industry makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy and we need reliable access to workers to meet demand and continue to grow.
“We want to see the business events industry recognised as a priority sector in future workforce and migration settings and policies that reflect the important role working holiday makers play in supporting our sector.
“ABEA will continue to work alongside other visitor economy groups, which are also affected by these changes, to ensure our shared workforce needs are understood by government.”
Meanwhile, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has called for impact modelling on the effect of reducing working holiday maker numbers.
“Working holiday makers make an important contribution to regional economies, both through their visitor spending and by helping meet seasonal workforce demand,” said ATEC managing director Peter Shelley.
“For many regional tourism operators, their share of the international tourism dollar can make the difference between a strong season and an extremely difficult one.
“In seeking to reduce net migration numbers, Australia needs to be very careful to not inadvertently constrain the international visitors who contribute so much to our regional economies both as tourists and workers.”
Shelley also raised the issue of UK working holiday makers no longer being required to undertake regional work as part of their stay in Australia.
“If tens of thousands of WHMs are taken out of regional Australia, while numbers continue to grow among UK WHMs who don’t have the same incentive to disperse, work, travel and spend in regional communities, we need to ask whether this will actually deliver the desired migration outcome, and at what cost to regional Australia,” he said.
“That is why the economic modelling matters – to help us understand the potential impact on net overseas migration, regional labour supply, tourism expenditure and regional businesses to be confident these settings have the right balance.
“With the summer high season approaching for international and domestic travel, greater certainty is critical and we want to work constructively with the government to ensure the program meets its migration objectives while protecting the significant contribution WHMs make to tourism and regional communities.”
