Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 25:56 to 29:19
Senator Duniam questions the lack of economic modeling or impact assessments regarding the second and third year working holiday maker ballot program.
Topics: Employment, Tourism
Speakers: Hon Jonathon Duniam, Clare Sharp, Speaker 1, Michael Willard, Unknown Speaker
>> Thank you chair. very quickly. So I just wanted to confirm that with regard to uh second and third year working holiday maker ballot program that there was no modeling undertaken including projected loss of workers across the various sectors that that impacts a reduction in visitor spending perhaps or economic outputs and all of the flow ons. Was there any modeling of that nature undertaken in the leadup to making that
>> Uh, Senator, not not not analysis that I'd call modeling. Um, I think one thing to understand about the working holiday maker, and it builds on what I was saying earlier, it's a demand-driven program. We don't know how many there'll be in a given year. At the moment, it's not a planned number. The number's [clears throat] been rising um over the past few years, as you've heard. >> Um, but we can't. And the other thing about it, I guess, is people do come with work rights, but they're not tied to a specific employer. They're not required to work in a specific industry. Um, there is a specified industries, and there's quite a number of those, but they're not um
>> But that means you'd only then attribute like you'd have a some nominal value, economic value surely to any of these.
>> Yeah. An average
>> visa holders. Yes. Um and so with a projected growth in numbers and then a capping as a result of a policy at least even if it was static across the fords at that point in time where the new policy comes in there is a reduction but so my question is did the government undertake any assessment whether it's a form of analysis modeling in partnership with treasury back of envelope in the department prior to the decision being made
>> there was certainly through the costings process um uh an assessment of the impact on revenue [clears throat]
>> government revenue not economic income uh impact rather.
>> Yep. Revenue.
>> Okay. All right. Okay. That makes that clear. Then just with regard to uh how if I can try and inquire as to how many second and third year working holiday maker visas have already been granted and [clears throat] how many valid applications are already in the pipeline under existing arrangements this financial year and the assumption being that there will be no third and potentially no secondyear visas left to issue given there might be with those applications already being made the cap having been reached. What do we So it sort of comes back to those questions I asked earlier. You've got people who've got applications in right now and let's say [clears throat] the new process starts. Are those people who have applications in now under the 3month treatment uh or slow down treatment grandfathered through or do they get caught up under this new cap once it's enlivened?
Uh so PE people who've already applied are assessed under the criteria that were in force when they applied.
>> Okay. So I could apply today new criterion come in and anyone who applies from that day is treated differently to me. >> Y okay. All right. Thank you chair.
>> Thank you Senator Duniam. Now we're over Senator Shoebridge to get us through outcome the [clears throat] rest of outcome two reasonably swiftly. >> Senator Shoebridge.