A Tale of Two Visas: Interrogating the Substitution Effect between Pacific Seasonal Workers and Backpackers in Addressing Horticultural Labour Supply Challenges and Worker Exploitation
(2018) 31 Australian Journal of Labour Law
Posted: 6 Feb 2019
Date Written: 2018
Abstract
The Australian horticulture industry, like its peers in most developed countries, faces significant labour supply challenges during the harvest season. Two regulatory initiatives seek to address this: the Seasonal Worker Programme and the second year extension on the Working Holiday visa. The latter has been far more widely used by horticulture employers, leading to a ‘substitution effect’ between the two visa schemes. This article indicates how the introduction of the second year visa extension for Working Holiday visa holders in 2005 has reshaped the horticultural labour market and constrained the ability of the Seasonal Worker Programme to fully succeed. This article identifies key and significant disparities between the regulation of the two visa schemes, which result in the production of two different types of horticultural workforces. Such disparities should be addressed and better understood in order to minimise the substitution effect and to develop more sustainable solutions to the endemic problems of labour supply and worker exploitation in the industry.
Keywords: Visas, Australian horticulture industry, Seasonal Worker Programme, Working Holiday visa, horticultural workforces
JEL Classification: K10
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation