The peak tourism organization in Australia wants to lift the age limit for working holiday visas to allow more skilled workers and professionals to enter.
The Federal Government is currently conducting a review of migration to address the worker shortages in Australia.
The working holiday visa, popular with backpackers and tourists, is only available to people under 35 years of age.
Margy Osmond is the chief executive of Tourism and Transport Forum Australia. She said that Australia would get more out of this program if they raised the age limit to 50.
She told ABC Radio that the new system would allow people to use their skills more professionally.
“We have to be more creative about how we fill [jobs].”
Osmond stated that other countries are reworking their migration programs to encourage workers, and Australia should follow suit.
Andrew Giles, the immigration minister, claimed that the government has reduced the backlog of visas ahead of the summer holiday.
In less than a day, 120,000 backpackers from abroad were approved for a working holiday visa.
Giles stated that “by hiring 400 additional staff and increasing processing at the Department of Home Affairs, we’ve now processed more than four million visas in our first year as a government.”
This has helped Australians reconnect with their loved ones in time for Christmas, and it’s also helped to address the skills shortages.
According to the minister, changes in the program for working holidays would allow backpackers the opportunity to work with one employer throughout their visa.
Osmond, however, said that the rule requiring backpackers working in the agricultural sector for three months to extend their visa length should be extended to other industries.
She said, “Not everyone wants to work in agriculture, as important as it may be, but we’d like to see more options, and an acknowledgement of the difficult times.”
“We don’t want the agricultural sector to be burdened with more work. We’re just bringing it up as an idea… for] other sectors who have similar skills shortages and could also be included in this system.”