Too Australian to find work: Young woman claims she can’t get a job because employers only want overseas staff – and a major union backs up her claim
- Charley Newton, 20, has visiting Queensland from her native South Australia
- She said she has applied for more than 20 labouring roles including fruit picking
- ‘As soon as I said I was Aussie I didn’t get a response,’ she said about one job
- Steve Baker from the Australian Workers’ Union said farmers prefer foreigners
An Australian backpacker has claimed she has been turned down for 20 farm jobs taken by foreign travellers.
Charley Newton, 20, has been visiting rural Queensland from South Australia but has struggled to find work.
She has applied for more than 20 labouring roles including fruit picking but claims she has not been accepted because of her nationality.
Charley Newton (pictured), 20, has been visiting rural Queensland from South Australia but has struggled to find work
The backpacker (pictured) has applied for more than 20 labouring roles including fruit picking but claims she has not been accepted because of her nationality
‘As soon as I said I was Aussie I didn’t get a response back,’ she told Today Tonight about one of her applications.
Miss Newton said that after being rejected several times, she put a post in a local Facebook group saying she was looking for some seasonal work.
‘I got loads of responses from people saying “good luck – you’re Australian, Australians don’t get work out here”,’ she said.
Steve Baker from the Australian Workers’ Union told the programme that farmers prefer foreign backpackers on working holiday visas to Australians because ‘they don’t understand their rights.’
‘At the end of the day, Aussie workers are not lazy,’ Mr Baker said.
‘They are being overlooked because overseas workers are easier to exploit.’
The show compared Miss Newton’s plight with two German backpackers Hannes and Jannik, who found work in Queensland.
They said they loved working in Australia because the pay was so much better than in Europe and the hours more flexible.
‘We are happy with any work where we can get money and don’t have to sign a contract for the long term,’ they said.
Miss Newton (left) said that after being rejected several times, she put a post in a local Facebook group saying she was looking for some seasonal work
Miss Newtown (pictured) said her plan was to head back to South Australia and find work there
‘In Germany everything comes with a contract.’
Miss Newtown said her plan was to head back to South Australia and find work there.
Australia offers working holiday visas to people from 42 countries around the world.
The visa allows young adults to stay and work in Australia for two years.
In order to be allowed to stay for their second year, the applicant has to work in a certain sectors for three months.
In the six months to December 31, 80,305 first year working holiday visas were granted and 18,812 second-year visas were approved.
Around 92 per cent of the second-year applicants said they did agricultural work, around seven per cent did construction work, and less than one per cent did mining work.