Labor quietly pauses working holidaymaker visas as stoush over backpackers brews

Government pauses backpacker visas amid migration debate

The Australian government has quietly paused working holidaymaker visa applications from 24 countries as it seeks to control the migration system, a move that has sparked a political debate over the future of the backpacker program and drawn warnings from farmers about food security.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed on Sunday that working holidaymaker (WHM) visas were being processed "more slowly than they were previously." The government's website shows applications from 24 countries have been paused, a step introduced without notice in the last month, according to migration and travel agents who told the tourism industry they had been detecting delays since the beginning of July.

The pause applies to countries with capped visa allocations, while the processing slowdown affects those with uncapped places. The Working Holiday Maker program, which began in 1975, allows young people from partner countries to travel and work in Australia for up to a year.

Farmers warn of food security risks

The National Farmers Federation (NFF) estimates that backpackers make up about half of Australia's peak-harvest casual workforce and says any cuts are alarming.

"[Backpackers] are essential to our industry and the food security of the nation," said Richard Shannon, the NFF's horticulture spokesman. He argued that the government's pause risks putting pressure on fresh produce prices in supermarkets.

Farmers and rural communities have expressed concern about the potential impact. Terry Buckley, a South Australian potato grower, said backpackers were crucial to his business; without them, he would have to buy expensive machinery, some costing $1 million a piece.

BlazeAid, a charity that organises volunteers to clean up and rebuild farms and fences after fires, floods, and cyclones, relies heavily on backpackers. At its base camp in Euroa, Victoria, 75 per cent of those in camp are backpackers, according to chief executive Melissa Jones.

"I just worry that if this slowdown occurs, then our Australian society and particularly rural people will suffer," Jones said.

Farming groups, including BlazeAid, have written to Mr Burke urging him to consider the importance of backpackers to the agricultural workforce.

Government defends migration approach

When confirming the slowdown, Mr Burke argued that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme was the "principal visa for the agriculture industry." However, industry representatives dispute this, saying PALM workers and backpackers "are not substitutes. They fill different roles and purposes," as Mr Shannon put it.

Marie Piccone, managing director of mango grower Manbulloo, said the PALM scheme was more expensive and took longer: "It's about 10 times the administration and a significantly more costly scheme." She added that horticulture is in a cost price squeeze, and "we need to have our workforce to get our mango crop off because that's the one time of the year where we get our income."

The pause comes as both Labor and the Coalition fine-tune their plans for lowering Australia's migrant intake. Labor's May budget papers flagged that the government wanted to expand the use of ballots, or lotteries, to deal with demand for working holidaymaker visas. Mr Burke was expected to use his delayed National Press Club address to outline how this would inform his plan to meet a 225,000 net migration target within two years.

Political divisions over backpacker numbers

The Coalition has signalled it may target working holidaymakers as part of its migration cuts. Housing spokesman Andrew Bragg named the visa category as one part of the migration system that could be targeted to reduce overall numbers to about 180,000. However, Nationals leader Matt Canavan has pushed back, telling Radio National: "They're just not the problem, so that won't be targeted," and "It's not been the cause of the migration crisis we're seeing in Australia since the end of COVID."

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has not guaranteed that backpackers will be exempt from the Coalition's planned cuts, leaving the issue unresolved.

Record numbers and visa fee rise

Working holidaymaker numbers have surged since the pandemic, hitting a new record each year. Latest government data from June 30 shows 225,648 working holidaymakers in the country, compared with 210,971 in June 2025 and 173,216 in June 2024. Working holidaymakers made up 17.5 per cent of net migration in 2024-25.

Visa fees for working holidaymakers increased last month, from $670 to $840 for first visas and $1000 for second- and third-year visas. Peta Zietsch, chair of the Backpacker and Youth Tourism Advisory Panel, said the pause, combined with higher fees, could deter backpackers.

"Rather than placing barriers in the way of the working holidaymaker program, we should be looking at ways to attract more young international travellers here," she said.

How the visa program works

The working holidaymaker program has two streams. The first is uncapped and applies to 19 partner countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The second stream is capped, covering 29 countries with allocations between 100 and 5000 places a year; these include Argentina, Indonesia, Austria, and Israel. For three capped countries — China, India, and Vietnam — applications are managed through a lottery system. The remaining capped countries have been paused except for Turkey and San Marino, which have 100 places each.

The Department of Home Affairs website says applications could be paused when the cap is nearly filled or to spread applications throughout the year, and that "lodgements may also be paused to support the government's migration settings while ensuring the program operates sustainably." The department did not respond to questions about why the majority of applications had been paused.

Immigration expert Abul Rizvi said pausing so many countries at once was highly unusual, adding: "Where we are with working holidaymaker numbers now is higher than anything before COVID by a long way." He suspected the pause might be temporary to manage demand or to organise the lottery for other countries.

Rizvi noted the government could expand the lottery system to other countries to manage arrivals, or it could cap second- and third-year visas or remove the third-year visa, which would bring down net migration by between 5000 and 10,000 people in a full year.

The debate over backpacker visas highlights the challenge for the Coalition to drive down migrant numbers without affecting regional areas that rely on labour migration. One Nation, by contrast, has pledged to retain working holidaymaker visas while promising to issue only 130,000 visas a year across the entire migration system — a target that experts say would be difficult to meet if backpacker numbers remain high.