Australia’s Working Holiday Maker program is about more than migration numbers. For pubs and hotels across regional Australia it is also about having enough people behind the bar, in the kitchen, cleaning rooms and keeping the doors open.
Regional hospitality businesses operate in a labour market that is different from the capital cities. They need cooks, kitchen hands, waiters, bar staff, cleaners and managers, often in communities where the local workforce cannot fill every shift.
Working Holiday Makers have become an important part of that workforce because they are mobile. They can travel to regional communities, work for several months and move on as seasons and opportunities change.
Under the current system, eligible Working Holiday Makers can generally qualify for a second year by completing 88 days of specified regional work, with a further six months providing a pathway to a third year.
The government’s proposed changes would retain the regional work requirements but introduce a ballot for second and third-year visas.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the second-year ballot would be limited to 45,000 places, compared with 57,000 people who qualified last year. The third-year ballot would be limited to 5,000 places, compared with 31,000 people who qualified last year.
For pubs and regional employers, the issue is not simply how many people may miss out. It is the uncertainty created for the next generation of workers considering whether regional Australia is worth the trip.
For someone considering travelling hundreds or thousands of kilometres, committing to months of regional work and building a life around a regional employer, greater uncertainty around a second or third year could become part of that decision.
That concern has been echoed by the hospitality industry.
Australian Hotels Association CEO Stephen Ferguson said Working Holiday Makers played an important role in filling seasonal and regional jobs.
“Targeting working holiday makers makes no logical sense – they are a motivated and mobile workforce who help fill seasonal work, especially in the regions,” Ferguson said.
The AHA has also raised concerns about the impact of the proposed ballots on the supply of workers willing to undertake regional and remote work.
The changes come alongside broader concerns within the hotel industry about skilled migration and visa processing times.
Accommodation Australia has warned that changes to skilled visa priorities could make it harder for hotels to recruit workers in occupations where businesses are already experiencing shortages.
Accommodation Australia CEO James Goodwin said the industry was particularly concerned about the time it can take to bring skilled workers into roles such as chefs.
“It is ridiculous that a skilled occupation like a chef can take up to 12 months to process – there are 7,000 chef and cook vacancies in Australia right now,” said Goodwin.
For regional hospitality businesses, the two issues are connected. Working Holiday Makers can provide a flexible workforce for immediate staffing needs, while skilled migration is part of the longer-term pipeline for occupations that are difficult to fill locally.
Pubs are investing in apprenticeships, traineeships and Australian workers. Building that domestic workforce remains important, but it takes time.
In the meantime, Working Holiday Makers can help regional hospitality businesses fill shifts and meet seasonal demand.
The same workers also contribute beyond the pub.
At the Barron Valley Hotel in Atherton, around 80 working backpackers are based throughout the year. Some work at the hotel and local cafes, while most work on surrounding farms, picking avocados, mangoes, citrus and other produce.
They are part of the same regional economy. They fill shifts at the pub, work on farms and spend their wages in local businesses.
That connection between hospitality, agriculture and regional communities is important when considering the role of the Working Holiday Maker program.
The government has made clear that it wants greater control over temporary migration numbers. Burke said the reforms are intended to give the government more control over “who arrives, who stays and who leaves”, while maintaining a regional work requirement for people seeking access to the second and third-year ballots.
For regional pubs, however, the policy is ultimately experienced at ground level.
It is about filling the roster, keeping the kitchen operating and having people available when the next busy weekend arrives.
For pubs like the Barron Valley Hotel, Working Holiday Makers are not a number in a migration target.
They are the people who turn up for work.
