Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

and called himself an 'agrarian socialist', in his first speech to the Senate, is probably one of the wealthiest men in parliament and he is not representing the agricultural producers in his state who do not want the government to take 19 per cent of the first dollar that backpackers earn when they are in their orchards. They come and work because it is lucrative for them to work in Australia. No-one is denying that. We are giving up our competitive advantage. Compared with New Zealand and Canada and other destinations, Australia is a lucrative place to come and work. And guess what? It is a lucrative place to send your money, Senator O'Sullivan, if you are a backpacker.

And that is what they do. They come to Australia for a holiday, they have a great time and hopefully they go home and tell their family and friends to come here as well. They do it as a working holiday where they also meet people, and they spend their money here, and they solve a critical problem for our agricultural producers, and that is getting labour when it is desperately needed. And they are hard workers—