Australian fruit supply could dry up

The CEO of Australia’s industry body representing apple and pear growers is asking the Federal Government to scrap all plans for the proposed backpacker tax to ensure there are enough workers to pick local fruit – or risk the supply of Australian fruit reducing.

“Without backpackers, there would not be enough workers to pick Australian fruit and fruit growers could go out of business,” says John Dollisson, CEO of Apple and Pear Australia Ltd (APAL). “In certain fruit-growing regions even a 10 per cent drop in the number of backpackers could effectively stop harvesting.

“This would mean the supply of the healthiest, safest and best quality fruit – Australian-grown fruit – could dry up. It’s as simple as that.”

Dollisson explained that some of the nation’s apple and pear growers rely nearly 100 per cent on backpackers to pick their fruit and they are already hearing rumours that backpackers are not planning on extending their stay, or simply not coming to Australia now, because of the proposed higher tax rate they would face.

“It’s really important to remember that backpackers already pay tax – the same amount of tax that a local resident would pay on the same income. So why should we treat them any less fairly – especially when we want to encourage them to come to Australia,” says Dollisson.

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