DIBP statistics reported in the Australian indicate that half of Australia’s migrant workers are recruited onshore, with one in every 20 backpackers last year receiving a 457 visa to stay working here for four more years. Unions say that unemployed Australians are being by-passed and have demanded for the expansion of labour market testing.

CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor said that employers should be forced to advertise all jobs on job-search websites or in newspapers before hiring migrant workers. “Backpackers are being engaged in the construction industry on semi-skilled labouring work where there would be many ideal candidates locally to do the work,’’ he said.

However, the Master Builders Association said companies preferred local workers, who were much easier to hire. “All labour market testing does is delay the process,’’ MBA spokesman Ben Carter said yesterday. “No building contractor has any incentive to employ foreign labour.’’

Figures released by Scott Morrison at the Transport and Tourism Forum in Canberra earlier this year indicate that on average, each Working Holiday Maker spends A$13,218 during their stay in Australia. Approximately 71 per cent of this expenditure occurs in the three interrelated areas of tourism, accommodation and transportation.

The Minister noted that Working Holiday Makers generally tend to spend more than they earn, making a small but important contribution to the creation of Australian jobs. For every 100 Working Holiday Makers who arrive in Australia there is a net gain to the Australian economy of 6.3 full time jobs. This means that the 258,000 Working Holiday arrivals in the last financial year generated more than 16,000 additional Australian jobs.

DIBP expects to grant 241,100 “working holiday’’ backpacker visas this financial year, according to a report in the Australian today. Assistant Minister for Immigration Michaelia Cash defended the number, challenging unemployed Australians to do the work instead. “The reason our fruit gets picked sometimes, unfortunately, is backpackers,’’ she said. “It would be great if some of those people out on the dole picked fruit.’’

Immigration data supplied to a senate committee shows that 90,780 migrants were living in Australia on 457 work visas in December — up 8.3 per cent on the previous year.

The department granted 68,481 new 457 visas during 2012-13 — half of them to short-term migrants already living in Australia, including 12,860 backpackers.

DIBP recently extended the program to Greece and is in the process of negotiating new and more liberalised Working Holiday Maker visa arrangements with twelve new partner countries including Poland, Mexico, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Vietnam, San Marino, the Czech Republic, Israel, Latvia, the Slovak Republic and Andorra.