00:00 We've reached back to pre-pandemic numbers, so well over 120,000 backpackers who are on
00:08 the ground here.
00:09 And I believe there's many more thousands of visas that have been granted, but they
00:14 haven't yet arrived, flown into Australia.
00:16 So we're seeing really healthy numbers throughout Australia and people travelling through the
00:21 regions.
00:22 Do we know which countries they're from in the main?
00:25 Well, there's over 40 participating nations on the Working Holiday Maker Backpacker Visa,
00:31 but the big numbers are obviously from the UK, Ireland, America, also South Korea that
00:38 have come back, and to a lesser extent Canada, France, Argentina as well.
00:44 Now there have been changes to visas for backpackers, haven't there, Kai?
00:48 Has that made it easier for people to come here?
00:51 Yeah, there's been quite a bit of shifting around of some of the conditions for backpackers
00:57 during the pandemic to make it easier for people to stay longer, obviously with some
01:02 bridging visas.
01:03 And last year they had a visa refund scheme, so their $490 visa application fee was refunded,
01:10 trying to get people, make it very attractive and affordable for people to come to Australia.
01:16 There's also been some changes to the industries where a lot of backpackers find work, so particularly
01:21 in farming, in horticulture, fruit and vegetable production.
01:25 They've got a new minimum wage that came in late last year, which makes the pay that backpackers
01:30 get for their farming work a lot more attractive.
01:34 So when it comes to work, though, often backpackers went to rural and regional areas, as you say,
01:39 to pick fruit and help on the farms, but they were replaced in post-pandemic times.
01:45 Are there a few jobs going in these industries now?
01:49 Yeah, so from the research I've been doing, travelling around in regional Queensland communities,
01:55 the jobs are pretty full at the moment.
01:57 We're coming into peak harvest times through a lot of the east coast of Queensland and
02:02 Australia, and most jobs are currently full.
02:06 Like you said, some of those are already filled by Pacific Island workers under the labour
02:11 mobility scheme that caters for the Pacific Island, which perhaps before the pandemic
02:17 were traditionally the shorter season farm crops done by backpackers.
02:21 But now that there's lots of backpackers around, some farms are looking to shift back.
02:27 So I guess finding a balance between workers from the Pacific Islands and the working backpackers
02:33 as well, because both visas have different conditions and different work rights and ability.
02:39 So backpackers are really mobile.
02:41 They're willing to pick up and take up a couple of weeks of work at the drop of a hat, whereas
02:46 Pacific Island workers are contracted for a longer nine month seasonal contract.
02:51 So they're not necessarily as flexible to move between farms when farmers need the fruit
02:57 to be harvested.
02:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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