The Australian Government has released the first ever White Paper on Developing Northern Australia. Among the proposals is one to expand the Working Holiday Maker Visa Programme by increasing the amount of time visa holders can work in high demand areas in northern Australia.

The White Paper is a vision to unlock the great potential and opportunities of the north. It focuses on building priority roads, developing water resources, removing red tape, building a sustainable workforce and ensuring effective governance arrangements. It is anticipated that if successfully implemented the proposals could see a doubling of tourist numbers as well as international students in northern Australia in the next 20 years.

Australia’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) Visa Programme encourages youth mobility and tourism by allowing young adults aged 18-30 years to have an extended holiday in Australia of up to 12 months, during which they can offset their travel costs by engaging in short term work. A total of 239,592 visas were granted to participants in 2013–14.

The White Paper indicates that that the government will amend the WHM Visa Programme to allow both Working Holiday (Subclass 417) and Work and Holiday (Subclass 462) visa holders to work an additional six months with one employer in northern Australia if they work in the following high demand areas in the north:

• agriculture, forestry and fishing

• tourism and hospitality

• mining and construction

• disability and aged care.

The Government will also be giving Work and Holiday (Subclass 462) visa holders the opportunity to access a second 12 month visa if they work for three months in agriculture or tourism in the north. Working Holiday (Subclass 417) visa holders already have access to a second 12 month visa and this change means WHM Visa Programme participants could potentially be able to work for the entire duration of their two year stay in Australia — increasing the supply of seasonal and temporary labour in the north.

“This will be of particular benefit to the agriculture and tourism sectors which are highly seasonal, relying on WHM visa holders to provide the labour flexibility they need in peak periods. This will also help employers get more back from those WHM visa holders that they have trained to undertake particular roles” the paper states adding that, “These measures will be subject to monitoring and reviewed after two years for their impact on the domestic labour market and to ensure foreign workers are not being exploited.”

Deputy Ausveg CEO Andrew White told the ABC that changing working holiday visas would make farm labour harder to find in northern Australia.

"These workers will generally opt to work in tourism rather than agriculture, so we do have some real concerns about the policies that have been put forward," he said.