I’ve been watching an interesting scenario throughout my trip through Australia.
Barely 60 miles from the start of my journey, I met a German “tourist” couple enjoying Australian sights. However, they were also looking for work. By the time I arrived in Alice Springs, about 2000 miles later, I had already met countless workers from various European and Asian countries staffing just about every establishment I stepped into. All on the “working holiday” visa.
According to a government website. “The Working Holiday Visa is a temporary visa ideally suited for young people who want to travel and work in Australia for a year.” You must be 18 to 35 years old.
The economy of the outback region is driven by these service workers (housekeeping, cooks, fast food servers, etc.) without whose toil much work would not be done. These are low wage entry level work with pay of less than $10 an hour. These foreigners don’t mind, since it primary funds their stay there and nothing more. At the same time, though, many of the Asians are actually there for work because the work actually pays higher than what they get back home.
Warburton and Wararkuna Roadhouses had some Thai kitchen staff. Curtin Springs staff were Filipino. Some Ntaria staff were Indonesian. Jump Inn in Alice Springs had many Chinese. Many nationalities are working in Alice Springs.
At the hostel in Alice Springs, I watch numbers of backpacking young people come through. I talked with the front desk clerk. “Are most of these backpackers here to vacation in Uluru, the MacDonnell Ranges, or wherever?” “No,” she said, ” they’re mostly here looking for work.” I am in an 8-bed dorm room. Seven of the beds are occupied by young foreign workers, sleeping there while searching for more permanent abodes, having already found jobs.
From what I can gather from hearsay, work is plenty because no Australian wants to work service level jobs in these remote regions. Australians will travel through for visits (holidays) but no one really wants to live here. In Alice Springs, they say it’s “too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.” Australians who are in, say, Alice Springs are doctors, real estate agents, managers, and the like, that is, higher paying jobs. Lower service level jobs are not filled by Australians. The government knows this, as one of the requirements of the working holiday visa is that one works in remote regions (most notably the outback). That is, one cannot work in urban centers, like Sydney, for example. So foreign young people go to the outback as one destination.
Meanwhile, most young aborigines in the same vicinity were loitering around, unemployed. And causing trouble. The breakdown of aboriginal culture is a dilemma which the country seems to be having trouble addressing– much like the U.S. with its black population.
There are some programs helping aborigines transition into the new realities. But those are few and far between. Some offices are located in Alice Springs. This is not unlike the lack of availability of programs for black Americans where unemployment is abnormally high. One can make social commentary on these situations but I think you can deduce the realities on your own. The black aborigine youth are mostly not wanted.
In the meantime, foreign young people by the thousands flock to Australia’s remote regions. The government knows it fills a niche for Australia. At least, unlike the U.S., there is something, inadequate as it is, that addresses the service level need. But one wonders what this does to the social fabric in the Outback.