Traveling Jobs for young Men

Young people in the UK considering going to Australia on a working holiday visa are being warned that jobs are being advertised that may not be suitable for the programme. Last month job adverts began appearing on British jobseeker website for transport operators to work in Australia’s mining sector described as being ‘ideally suited to working holiday visa holders’.

However, the working holiday visa is designed to encourage cultural exchange and closer ties between Australia and countries taking part in the programme and not provide cheap labour for the booming mining sector, unions are warning. They are also concerned that the adverts stated that ‘no relocation assistance or travel expenses will be provided’ and successful applicants would only be offered ‘camp style accommodation’ in Australia’s outback.

Dave Noonan, national assistant secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, believes the adverts are an attempt to undermine the working holiday visa programme. He said that using working holiday visas like this was just a mechanism to undermine standards for Australian workers and possibly exploit young people wanting to work and travel in Australia. The union is also warning that other adverts could be misleading for overseas workers. A recent online advert for painters said a firm had three positions available for workers on 457 visas but to take the job the applicant had to be prepared to invest in the company.

Noonan has called for an investigation by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship whose spokesman confirmed that the advert ‘was not in the spirit of the laws’ but it was unclear if it was in breach of them. He also believes this is yet another piece of evidence that the 457 visa system was being abused although new rules have been introduced to tighten up abuses and make it harder for employers to use it as a means of employing cheap labour from abroad.