Submission | Australian Chamber – Tourism submission to Working Holiday Maker Visa Review

The Australian Chamber National Tourism Council is a peak body for businesses involved in the visitor economy. Members include peak industry groups, State Tourism Industry Councils and individual business. It is a part of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which includes state chambers of commerce and national industry associations.

Broad principles:

The tourism and visitor economy sector remains strongly opposed to the removal of resident status for income tax purposes from working holiday makers (WHM). The effect of this removal is to impose a tax on these workers.

Imposing this tax will:

• compound workforce shortages in tourism, costing export income and local jobs; and
• remove spending from local communities, lowering consumption and economic activity.

The Government should:

• not proceed with changing the status of WHMs to being non-residents for tax purposes;
• seek to replace the foregone revenue through increasing the number of WHM visitors, which will trigger more visa fees and other changes, and also generate additional economic activity; and
• refrain from replacing foregone revenue through increasing direct taxes and charges on the visitor economy.