So lets recap.

The new rules try to ensure that its easier to employ Australian then foreign workers.
That they will pay tax.
That they will be paid an award wage.

David these are not pro‑union rules these a rules that most Australian would support.

The more we see of David the more we see he prefers to hang around law breakers ( even outlaw bikers). His last few paragraphs suggest he is in favor of employers breaking the law.

David would joined one nation if they weren't so far to the left!

If taxing the backpackers makes it 'easier to employ locals' then tax the backpackers. Dole-bludgers should be put to work until they actually get the message and get a job. Then, if there are no dole bludgers to do the work, let the backpackers in, still paying tax. It's a joke that foreigners shouldn't pay tax while locals do. Same thing should apply to 457 visas: while their are Australians bludging, no 457 visas.

The vast majority of back-packers either spend all of their earnings or more than their earnings locally. Why would we want to tax them to give the money to Canberra rather than local economies?
You must be mad to even stand for this nonsense, forget it and just let them suffer under our current rules.

Typical nonsense from this unrepresentative senator...the whole issue of tax on backpackers is driven by the farmers. Specifically the realization that without backpackers there will be no fruit pickers available in the harvest seasons. At the hint of a tax the visa applications "dried" up spontaneously causing major stress in the Nationals seats.

Nothing to do with Labor or the unions at the end of the day.

Confuse us says, two wongs don't make a white, David!
Alan B

The fiddling with the Backpacker Tax, first by the Abbott/Hockey 2015 budget and now the Turnbull/Morrison amendments has been a classic case of misguided government grasping for revenue and hounding non-citizens who don't get to vote.

My suggestion is that we treat the taxation of workers, whether they be guest or citizen workers, in exactly the the same way with no discrimination . Yes, it means that the government will have to back-track and eat humble pie but that is surely better than the hapless mess we are trying to pretend is good policy.