Niamh Walsh, of Galway, at the farm where she worked in Bodalla, rural Victoria.

It’s 5.30am in Bodalla, New South Wales, almost 400kms from Bondi Beach.

My alarm goes off.

I get up, get dressed and head out the door without a glance in the mirror.

I’m heading to work but it doesn’t matter if I look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards.

It’s not like I’ve anyone to impress; unless you count a couple of hundred cows.

Like thousands of others, I’m here earning my second year visa.

Last year, the Australian Department of Immigration (DIAC) issued 14,833 Working Holiday Visas to Irish citizens.

Of these, just under half applied to stay for a second year. The 417 Visa requires 88 days of regional work to qualify for a second year.
unskilled worker shortage

The idea being that fit and capable young people provide a temporary solution to Australia’s ever-increasing shortage of unskilled rural workers.

It’s still dark out as I make my way towards the building where two people are already hard at work. They’ve been up since 4.30am. I rinse out a couple of buckets and collect some milk from the vat for the 20-odd calves that have become my adopted babies in the last few weeks.

Working on a dairy farm is probably one of the easier ways to get your visa extended. While any farm or labouring job completed within Government-designated regional postcodes counts as part of the required 88 days, much of the work out there is a lot tougher than this. I feed each calf individually, letting them suckle two litres from a rubber teat on a bottle. In the process I get covered in poop, pee, saliva or milk; on a good day it’s all four. If I’ve time, I’ll help the two guys finish the milking.

At this late stage of the morning, it generally involves hosing down the walls of the dairy; cleaning the excrements all 150 of the ladies have kindly left during their morning’s work.

Once done, I go back inside and only then do I think about breakfast for myself. It’s not even 8am.

While fruit picking seems to be the most common work undertaken by Irish backpackers, the mundane work for pathetic pay is resulting in more and more people choosing to work on a family farm.

A quick glance at community website Gumtree.com.au will throw up hundreds of adverts from Irish workers looking to secure work that doesn’t involve fruit and a basket. Dairy work may involve 5am starts, seven days a week but regional work certainly has its upsides. It gives you the opportunity to save a large amount of money quickly.

Farm hands can expect to earn anything up to $600 per week on top of their bed and board, while spending opportunities are few and far between in such a rural setting. It’s also the experiences you have and the things you see which are drawing in the workers. Where in Sydney or Melbourne would you have the opportunity to speed through the outback on a quad or a ute? How many of us can say they’ve helped deliver a calf or a lamb?

And it sure beats Bondi Beach for its tanning abilities.

Like most good things, there are, of course, a number of drawbacks to working on a farm. Insurance is the primary concern for most. Workers Compensation generally doesn’t extend to backpackers working for their bed and board or off the books.

Recently, a young man in Victoria was killed by a kick from a dairy cow, so you need to be aware that accidents can occur. Anyone thinking of taking up a job offer should always ensure their own travel insurance covers them should they get injured.

:: Get Insured

Another option is volunteering on an organic farm. Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a scheme involving working on an organic farm in exchange for bed and board. WWOOF workers can purchase a policy for $25 which covers third party liability and personal accident, injury and illness.

However, the liability is limited and is only covered by farms registered with WWOOF Australia.

The very nature of the work is also a natural deterrent. People expecting a regular nine to five, Monday to Friday job can be in for a shock.

Getting up in the middle of the night to birth a difficult heifer is not an uncommon occurrence. Nor is sitting down to have your dinner and realising the cows have broken into the neighbour’s paddock. You have no choice but to put down your knife and fork and run for the ute to get them rounded up before they mix in with the other animals.

All job adverts should also come with the disclaimer ‘No squeamish people need apply’. This is not a job for those with a delicate disposition. You see births, deaths and all the bodily fluids in between. I’ve had a calf die from diarrhoea, watched a cow have its eye removed and helped pull out a calf that was too big to come naturally. It’s not something everyone can stomach but you need to be prepared for everything.

Most backpackers see regional work as a hassle. And in some ways it is.

You’re uprooted from your cosy city life and thrown into a world that most of us would rather not know existed.

Scams have emerged to try to circumvent the rules. Two years ago, DIAC launched a major clampdown on an Irish-run racket where backpackers were charged money to ‘fix’ a second visa without actually doing the regional work. Dozens of young Irish had their applications for a second visa rejected because of ‘inconsistencies’ on their forms.

If you want to stay on, you’re better off just getting on with it. You work long and hard, and no one will thank you. Because these people have been doing this their whole lives.

They were born on the farm, grew up on the farm and many have known nothing else but farm life.

They’ll be here long after you’ve gone; training in the next bunch of backpackers.

It’s a means to an end and an experience that most backpackers come to remember fondly.

:: A quick guide to the Working Holiday Visa

If you’re planning to work in Australia, you will need a visa. The Working Holiday Visa (417) is available to Irish and British passport holders between the ages of 18 and 30.

You can apply for this visa online (see www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/working-holiday.htm) and track its progress. The application fee is currently $270 (or €209).

Once you’re in Australia, you can apply for a further 12 months on your visa.

Some businesses can offer you this visa packaged up with – for instance – insurance, a bank account and Australian sim card but beware, you can wind up paying up to €100 for something that you can easily do yourself for free. While the Department of Immigration website has plenty of information, there are no immigration officers at the Australian Embassy in Dublin so if you want direct information, you can find yourself being referred to London.

Some Ireland-based visa firms run information seminars on moving to Australia. If you’re planning to attend one of these events, make sure organisers have registered migration agents on their staff.

Using a Migration Agent

Many people use migration agents to complete and lodge their applications. The best agents to use are those registered with the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA).
MARA is an Australia-based authority, which checks the bona fides of businesses offering migration advice for money. To be registered with MARA you must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

In Australia, it is a criminal offence to offer immigration advice without being registered. However, agents outside Australia operate without regulation, so you need to proceed carefully.

In Ireland, the situation is particularly treacherous as there is no regulation at all governing the migration agent industry.

Anyone can set up an attractive website, declare themselves experts and start selling migration advice. Registered agents in Australia have told us that many clients come to them after wasting time and money with agents overseas, especially in Ireland.

How much is too much?

Some migration agents in Ireland charge in excess of €4,000 for a permanent residency application. This is excessive. Shop around for quotes and don’t be afraid to contact migration agents in Australia for a quote. Much can be done online now.

Some work, some play: In 2010 there was close to a 50 per cent rise in Irish people granted WHVs.

The number of Irish people granted Working Holiday Visas (WHV) has risen by almost 50 per cent since last year, according to the Department of Immigration (DIAC).

Some 21,753 Irish nationals were granted the popular, reciprocal visa in the period up to June 30 this year, according to DIAC.  This is up from 14,833 for the year prior.

A DIAC spokesperson said the department is attributing the 2010 reduction to the global financial crisis.

The WHV programme is open to 18- to 30-year-olds and allows young people to work for up to six months with one Australian employer.

Carrying out 88 days regional work in a designated location makes such visa holders eligible for a second WHV.

The 2011 figure is second only to the 2009 high of 22,786 grants to Irish nationals.

WHV grants to Irish nationals have trended upwards since 2005. Last year’s decrease represented the first negative result in five years.

The Backpackers’ Association (BOA) of New South Wales said Irish backpackers represent a mature market for tourism operators in the state.

“The Irish are a smart market. They have been coming to Australia for a long time and when they come here they manage to plug themselves into the jobs network really quickly,” said BOA committee member Daniel Lucas.

“We put a lot of Irish guys onto jobs out in farms.

“Many of these guys have got rural backgrounds so they can get jobs driving tractors for $30 an hour, working six days a week and fourteen hours a day. So they make an absolute fortune when they come over here,” he said.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) CEO Daniel Gschwind said coastal towns have noticed an absence of backpackers following the natural disasters at the beginning of the year, but things were now picking up.

“Queensland has taken a bit of a tumble in the first three months of this year and the backpacker market in particular, which is one where a lot of the Irish traffic comes from [so that] is very important to us,” Mr Gschwind said.

“If there has been an upside to all the bad publicity we got out of the disaster we had it is also that great spirit of collaboration and cooperation that shone through.”

He said the adversity had made Queensland an even more welcoming destination.

Tourism WA CEO Stephanie Buckland said it did not have figures exclusively for Irish and British backpackers coming to the state.

“However, in terms of total visitors to WA, United Kingdom is WA’s number one source market with an estimated 148,400 total visitors. Ireland is also an important source market, currently ranked 13th with a total of 14,600 visitors,” said Ms Buckland.

The earning potential of backpackers is set to rise in 2012, because of taxation relief measures introduced as part of the Australian Government’s carbon tax.

From July 1 next year the tax-free threshold will be lifted from $6,000 to $18,200.

It means backpackers who earn anything under and up to the latter figure will pay no tax at all. In 2015 the threshold will be lifted again, to $19,400.

According to overseas arrivals and departures data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there were 390,000 international arrivals in May 2011, up almost three per cent on 2010.

Fewer visitors arrived from Ireland, Britain, the United States, Germany, Canada, France and Taiwan.

Some 53,200 Irish people took holidays in Australia this year, a reduction of 10 per cent over the comparable period last year.

:: Ireland tenth biggest skilled migrant source

China has become Australia’s largest source of migrants with a total 29,547 places or 17.5 per cent of the total migration program in 2010-11.

The United Kingdom and India followed with 23,931 and 21,768, respectively, new figures from DIAC show.

As part of the skilled migration programme specifically, Australia took in 113,725 migrants in 2010-11.

Ireland was the tenth biggest source of skilled migrants to Australia in 2010-11, the figures show.

Some 2,934 of skilled stream visas were granted to Irish citizens. Some 18,091 were granted to citizens of the United Kingdom, which includes people from Northern Ireland.

Approximately 1,565 Irish citizens and 9,282 UK citizens were granted visas through employer sponsorship.

Some 1,329 Irish citizens and 8,380 UK citizens were granted visas for general skilled migration.

Just 40 Irish citizens were granted a business skills visa, which are offered to people who wish to come to Australia for the purpose of establishing a new business.

Immigration minister Chris Bowen said the Government’s new skilled migrant selection register, SkillSelect, would be introduced from 1 July 2012, allowing prospective migrants to express interest in skilled migration before they are invited to lodge a skilled visa application.

“SkillSelect will ensure that visas are allocated to the best and brightest skilled migrants so that the migration program can better meet the needs of Australian businesses,” he said.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has dismissed Coalition proposals to temporarily waive visa work restrictions to aid the Queensland flood relief effort.

Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has tabled a notice of motion calling for temporary residents – including those on student and tourist visas – to be given work rights for a “pre-defined emergency period in reconstruction”. Mr Morrison’s proposals come after the Gillard government announced a fast-tracking of 457 visas, as part of last month’s comprehensive flood relief package.

The notice of motion will be moved when Parliament returns next week.

“This temporary relaxation of conditions could result in tens of thousands of temporary visa holders already living in Australia to be sponsored in reconstruction jobs. All visa conditions would be reinstated following the period of work,” said Mr Morrison.

“Such waivers could also be extended to those on working holiday visas or even tourist visas where people had the requisite skills.
“Our massive rebuilding effort should focus our attention on immediate ways we can supplement our workforce without creating an immigration bubble.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has criticised the measures as “band-aid policy making”.

“The Government has announced the expedited processing of decision-ready 457 visa applications within five working days and a dozen companies have already approached my department about getting speedy access to overseas workers,” Mr Bowen said.

“The first company lodged applications for workers this week and the carpenters it was sponsoring were approved within 48 hours, having met all the 457 visa application requirements.”

Mr Bowen said other temporary visa programs, such as those for students, working holiday makers and tourists were intended for non-work purposes.

“Temporarily changing the work rights associated with other visa programmes would undermine the purposes of those programmes,” Mr Bowen said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration has clarified confusion regarding the use of flood relief work in applications for second working holiday visas.

Since the Queensland flooding and the announcement of the Federal flood relief package, there has been speculation that ‘specified work’ criteria has been amended.

This is not true – there has been no amendment to the rules regarding second working holiday visas since the Queensland floods and, more recently, Cyclone Yasi.

An Immigration spokesperson told the Echo that work undertaken in flood and cyclone affected areas would only be eligible if it met pre-existing requirements.

Flood recovery work undertaken in Brisbane, for example, will not qualify for consideration in any application for a second working holiday visa.

The regional requirement remains and immigration has advised prospective applicants to check the eligible postcodes on their website.

by Luke O’Neill

Live Work Travel Australia is a new glossy magazine for Irish nationals looking for a new life Down Under.

To be published in early October, LWTA will contain news, features and information for Irish nationals looking to live and work in Australia.

For those twentysomethings looking to come to Australia as a Working Holidaymaker or as temporary residents, LWTA will include all the latest visa and recruitment news.

For those individuals or families looking to emigrate, LWTA will offer a unique insight into the jobs and challenges of starting a new life down under by talking to Irish people who have already made the move.

The magazine replaces the previously published Irish Down Under title.

LWTA will be distributed throughout Ireland via

• The Working Abroad Expo (Dublin Oct)

• Newsagents

• Australia specialist travel agents

• Australia visa seminars

• Graduate fair (Dublin)

• By mail-order via website

The backpacker section will contain all you need to know about making the most from your year (or two) down under.

Our recruitment section will take a look at the Australian jobs market and sponsored visa opportunities for skilled workers.

The Emigrate section will examine the ups and downs of making the big move down under by talking to individuals and families who have done it.

To pre-order a copy of the Live Work Travel Australia, click here.

If you want to book advertising space, click here for more information.

If you want to be a stockist for the magazine, contact the publisher click here.

Dozens of Irish nationals have been left in visa and payroll limbo following the collapse of Sydney-based company, PayFair. The firm went into voluntary liquidation on August 10 owing money to as many as 100 Irish nationals on temporary visas in Australia.

Up to 20 Irish contract workers, currently sponsored by the company on 457 visas, are understood to be talking to other immigration management companies in a bid to salvage their visas.

These workers are hired directly by employers or through recruitment agencies but have their sponsorship and payroll through PayFair.

The Irish Echo has learned that liquidators are working on trying to find other companies to take over the sponsorship and immigration aspect of the firm. This includes competitors and other recruitment firms.

One Irish person here on a Working Holiday Visa and whose payroll was handled by PayFair, has told the Irish Echo their salary has been paid in full to date, but that she is now being moved to another management company.

The Irish Echo has seen the list of nearly 300 creditors, which includes many Irish names with addresses in both Sydney and Melbourne. The Irish Echo is also on the list as PayFair had booked advertisements in the newspaper and the website over the past twelve months.

Money owed to individuals ranges from one dollar to over four thousand. It’s understood this may include superannuation payments. Liquidators are continuing their examination of the firm’s finances, and more should be known in the coming days.

Net emigration from Ireland  over the next four years could eclipse the massive exodus of the 1980s, economic analysts have predicted.

But in an ominous sign forIreland’s economic prospects, the departure of more than 300,000 people over the next four years is seen as crucial to the country’s prospects of recovery, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has declared.

While official figures from the Australian Department of Immigration were unavailable at the time of going to press, ESRI officials in Dublin said that staff in the Australian Embassy in Dublin had reported that there has been a major increase in the number of visa applications from Irish nationals.

The emigration estimates were contained in an ESRI report on Ireland’s economic recovery. The report presented two scenarios, an optimistic and a pessimistic outlook.

Even based on the most positive assumptions, the ESRI still estimated that “there would be cumulative net emigration of over 160,000 over the period 2009 to 2013.”

In the negative scenario, which commentators have described as more realistic, that number could almost double.

However, the ESRI has also claimed that increased emigration is crucial to lowering Ireland’s joblessness, which now stands at over 13 per cent.

“If migration were not to resume to this extent, this would lead to a higher unemployment rate and a slower decline in the unemployment rate in the recovery period,” the report declared.

Other commentators have gone further, claiming that people will “have to emigrate” if the Irish economy is to recover.

More than 120,000 people — or 5,000 a month — will emigrate by the end of next year, according to the state’s economic think-tank.

Jean Goggin, a co-author of the ESRI report, said: “It’s quite significant — we expect 70,000 to leave in 2010 and a further 50,000 in 2011.”

Unlike last year, most of these emigrants will be Irish, the figures suggest.

Many foreign workers – mostly in construction and retailing — whose jobs disappeared have already left the country.

“In the two years 2008 and 2009, the number of non-nationals employed in Ireland fell by 87,500,” the report says. “The biggest adjustment was in the number still in Ireland. It fell by 60,200, or 12 per cent.”

“It is very difficult to estimate how Irish workers will react to the situation,” senior researcher Alan Barrett told the Irish Independent.

“But the evidence from things like visa applications for Australia points that way.”

by Billy Cantwell

A number of empoyers in Sydney have been accused of cheating backpackers out of wages.

Unscrupulous employers in Sydney have been exposed as cheating Irish backpackers with unpaid ‘trial work’.

Though the practise is illegal, dodgy employers are taking advantage of young people who are desperate for work.

Bosses send the worker, often in Australia on a Working Holiday visa, out on a day’s work as, for instance, a charity collector.

Then, at the end of the day, they are told that not only is there no further work but they are also not going to be paid for the work they have already done.

Sligoman Paul McGovern told the Irish Echo his 22-year-old niece, Niamh, is one of those who have been cheated out of a day’s pay.

“They got her to sign a form on the day saying she wouldn’t be paid for the day,” said Mr McGovern.

“When she told me about this I thought, ‘that’s interesting, they’re putting it in writing that they’re not complying with the legislation’.

“But they didn’t give her a copy of the letter. So I got her to write to them to request payment for the work. If they respond to her letter with the form she signed to say she would not be paid, that will give us something to take to the Industrial Relations Commission,” he said.

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) website is very clear on this issue, stating that “Unpaid work trials are illegal”.

The practise of not paying someone by saying it was only trial work is thought to be most common in the area of telesales and door-to-door selling. Charity collectors are also at risk if the collection has been contracted to an outside agency.

Disreputable companies ripping young people off in this way are known to operate in areas such as Bondi Junction in Sydney – a popular destination for Irish backpackers.

“It is, of course, understandable and admirable that young people are prepared to do whatever it takes to ‘bag that job’. But that’s what these unscrupulous employers are taking advantage of,” said Mr McGovern.

“It is also understandable that no single backpacker wants to refuse to undertake an unpaid trial, for fear that they will be seen as ‘difficult’ and the next person in line will get the job,” he said.

Mr McGovern is hoping his niece gets proper financial compensation for her work, if necessary by taking her case to the IRC.

“I’m hoping and praying that the company is stupid enough to send back a copy of the letter she signed,” he said.

An increasing number of Irish citizens are taking the student visa route to perment residency.

Irish nationals, desperate to see out Europe’s recession in Australia, are looking at student visa options to extend their stay Down Under, the Irish Echo has learned.

Overseas nationals can apply for a vast array of courses to secure a student visa, which also allows the holder to work for up to 20 hours per week.

While the course fees can be as much as $10,000 per year, an increasing number of Irish nationals are taking the option to ‘stay legal’, improve their skills and build towards permanent residency down the track.

The Irish Echo spoke to two young Irish women – one studying in a new private college and the other in an established university – who explained about getting their student visas, the cost, their studying experiences and how they hope it will lead to permanent residency.

Pádraig Collins reports.

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Bridget is a 26-year-old from Cork who has enrolled in an accountancy course.

“I did two years on working holiday visas and then decided to stay on and so looked into studying here. I’m now doing a two-year advanced diploma in accountancy at a private college in Sydney.

“My fees are $6,000 a year which is a lot cheaper than the universities, where fees can be up to five times as much.

“I went to the CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students) website to find out about courses.

“That lists all the courses that are eligible for student visas. You can search by which type of course you want to do, be it a postgrad, diploma, certificate or whatever. Everything listed on that website makes you eligible for a visa.

“The college talked me through the process. Once I had enrolled with them they gave me a COE, a Certificate of Enrolment.

“That has a unique number on it and you bring it and any other paperwork such as previous certificates and anything relevant to your study to immigration with your application. Once you give that in it’s pretty straightforward. I was approved within a week.

“Because I was starting from scratch I didn’t need any prior education in accountancy. On my course, you start off at certificate level before you go on to the diploma. You start off at cert 3, then you go to cert 4 and work your way up to the advanced diploma.

“I think a lot of the students would be there just to get the visa, but the teachers we’ve had have been professional enough. We’ve had one or two really good teachers. The teaching system is pretty good there, but I don’t know from the student side of it how interested some of them would be.

“The vast majority of the other students speak English as a second language. This can make teaching difficult. But the majority of the teachers we’ve had so far also speak English as a second language, so this can make it doubly difficult for the other international students.

“It’s difficult enough to understand the language without the person who is speaking not having it as a first language either. We haven’t had much difficulty so far though.

“I can only work 20 hours a week, but once my two years study is complete I will have a graduate visa for another 18 months to get experience in the area I’m studying. If you’re studying something on the skilled migrant list you get the graduate visa. You can work full-time in that period.

“One of our teachers spoke to us about changes the government might be bringing in. As far as I know, if you were already enrolled before the changes were made you will get the graduate visa.

“I work for a finance company so I’m not as hard up as many of the students I go to school with, despite only working 20 hours a week.

“A lot of them work as cleaners and I’m sure they’d be on a lot less money than me. It is a bit of tight squeeze for me but I don’t know that it’s any worse than if I was studying back in Ireland.

“If I have to leave after three or four more years it won’t have been time wasted. If I can get a diploma it will be something to show for the extra time here. “

DEAR John,
I’m on the second year of my working holiday visa and I’ve been going out with my boyfriend, an Australian citizen, for almost a year. We have been living together since last July but we have no lease together and cannot prove our joint address. We didn’t have our post going to our address until very recently. We do have lots of photos; shared experiences; friends. Our families have met and we’ve been to weddings together, etc., but we have no joint bills and have only recently set up a bank account together. My visa is up in July and we’re wondering if we have a chance with a de facto visa application.
Thanks, F.

Dear F,
In assessing a de facto application, immigration will generally want to see that you and your partner have been in a de facto relationship for 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application.

However, state governments are beginning to allow defacto registrations that might help here.

NSW is to introduce legislation allowing registration of relationships between unmarried couples of the opposite sex or of the same sex.

For migration the registration allows an exemption from the “12 month relationship requirement” See here.

The media release announcing the change says that only one party to the relationship will need to be resident in NSW in order for the relationship to be registered.

The Victorian Relationships Act, 2008 requires both parties to be living in Victoria and it has been suggested that Victorian authorities are refusing to register relationships unless both parties are actually Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents.

In visa applications, you need to show evidence that you have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others, that the relationship is genuine and continuing and that you live together (or do not live apart on a permanent basis).

In deciding whether the partners satisfy the requirement immigration look at the:

• Knowledge of each other’s personal circumstances.

• Financial aspects of the relationship, joint financial commitments such as real estate or other assets, and sharing day-to-day household expenses.

• The nature of the household, including living arrangements and joint care for any children.

• The social aspects of the relationship, provided in statements (statutory declarations) by friends and acquaintances.

• The nature of the commitment, including duration of the relationship, how long you have been living together and whether you see the relationship as a long-term one.

You need to provide statutory declarations about your relationship, including:

• How, when and where you first met.

• How your relationship developed.

• When you decided to start a de facto relationship.

• Your domestic arrangements (how you support each other financially, physically and emotionally and when this began).

• Detail any periods of separation (when, why and for how long, and how you maintained your relationship during this time).

• Your future plans.

Recent recommendations to the Government have suggested slashing the country's immigration intake.

With a federal election due in Australia before the year is out, immigration is shaping up as one of the major issues of the campaign as talk of massive cuts to the current scheme loom ominously on the horizon.

Currently, Australia takes in around 300,000 immigrants per year, but new advice given to the federal government recently recommends that this figure should be drastically reduced to 180,000 a year.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is on record as supporting what he termed a “big Australia”, but if the advice is followed it would likely lead to a huge drop in the number of Irish people allowed to emigrate to Australia.

The number coming from Ireland has steadily increased in recent years due to the recession there and the fact that Australia has escaped the worst ravages of the global financial crisis.

In the year to the end of June 2009, 2,501 Irish people got residence visas for Australia, up from 1,989 in the previous 12 months. Many of these are 457 visas issued for specific skills in demand, such as information technology and engineering.

The increase in one-year Working Holiday Visas in this period was even more dramatic. The number issued to Irish people aged 18 to 30 rose to 22,788, from 17,120 the previous year.

The Australian Financial Review has reported that the advice given to the Government is part of a push to exercise more control over the number of people coming to Australia outside the formal migration procedures. This includes 457 and student visas.

Liberal party leader Tony Abbott says he is opposed to the current situation in which Australia’s population is expected to reach 36 million by 2050. Australia’s current population is 22.3 million and is increasing by one person every 1 minute and 10 seconds.

The opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said that if the Liberals win the election later this year they will slash immigrant numbers.

There is support for this move from the public. A national survey taken by the Lowy Institute shows that while 72 per cent supported a rise in Australia’s population, 69 per cent want it limited to 30 million or fewer.

However, following concerted criticism by business organisations, and from some within his own party, Morrison played down his earlier comments. “If there is an interpretation out there that this is a wholesale policy, it’s not a wholesale policy,” he said.

Heather Ridout of the Australian Industry Group said population growth does not need to be curbed. “If we are going to make that choice to restrict migrants, over the years we are going to have to pay higher taxes to support an ageing population,” she said.

The managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council, Matthew Hingerty, said “the service economy would grind to a standstill without backpackers and 457s”.

by Pádraig Collins