Commentary Working holiday makers in Australia: food security, climate change, and the backpacker tax Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong Email: biaquint@cityu.edu.hk Received 22 December 2016 • Revised 1 August 2017 • Accepted 13 August 2017 Abstract This commentary considers an often overlooked contribution to food security in Australia—the labour of working holiday makers. Their ability to act as a flexible and mobile temporary workforce is essential to the maintenance of the Australian agricultural industry. Previously, no tax was payable on income below $18,200, but a 2015 proposal to increase their tax rate sparked a vigorous political debate and so revealed their importance to the agricultural industry. A decline in backpacker numbers would cause agriculture to shrink to cope with smaller workforces. But the effects of climate change are expected to further shrink agricultural areas as extreme events and hotter temperatures impact crops, live- stock, and the productivity of agricultural workers. Issues that appear manageable when viewed in isolation, such as increases in the tax rate on working holiday makers, become more problematic when viewed in conjunction with other impacts affecting agriculture. Thus, the ‘backpacker tax’ risks making food security harder to maintain at a time when Australia’s agricultural system is already vulnerable to climate change. Keywords agriculture; tourism; migrant labour; harvest trail; vulnerability; backpacking Introduction Australia’s working holiday visa (WHV) program received significant public attention throughout 2015–2016. In its May 2015 budget, the Australian government proposed increasing the tax rate on working holiday makers (WHMs) to 32.5 per cent on the first dollar earned. The ensuing public debate, and strong resistance to the ‘backpacker tax’ from the agricultural sector and rural Members of Parliament, highlighted the importance of backpacker labour to Australia’s ag- ricultural industry. But despite the extensive public discussion and media attention, there has been little consideration of the link between backpacker labour and food security in Australia. Such a gap can be addressed by geographers (Pritchard, Mackay & Turner, 2017). In this commentary, I explore the link between backpacker labour and food security and consider what this means for Australia’s agricultural system in terms of coping with more significant shocks such as those associated with climate change. Next, I locate the backpacker tax debate in the context of the agricultural industry’s reliance on backpacker labour. Then, I explain how the backpacker tax could reduce Australia’s food security. Before going to a conclusion, I expand the discussion to consider the relationship between food security, climate change, and backpacker labour. Backpackers in Australia: a mobile and temporary agricultural workforce Australia’s WHV program (visa class 417) was implemented in 1975 and was originally available only to British nationals aged 18–26 (Reilly, 2015; Tan & Lester, 2012). Presently, the program Geographical Research • 2017 doi:10.1111/1745-5871.12261 1