Backpackers flock back to NT hospitality jobs
Regional hospitality venues in the Northern Territory are once again flush with workers as the employee crisis ends.
Darwin publican Leah Sloane told ABC News that she is once again interviewing for job vacancies, rather than being questioned by prospective employees.
"The potential employees were actually interviewing us," Sloane said.
"We were having to prove we were the best people to be working for.
"They were certainly unusual and interesting times."
Sloane said that the lack of confidence in travelling to Australia post Covid has now dissipated and the 2023 tourist season is as it should be.
"This year, it's been a complete flip," Sloane said.
"We've actually got too many people looking for positions. Now we can afford to pick and choose a little bit as far as people that are … suited to our business."
The trend is being seen throughout the Territory.
"Our hostels, as in Cairns, are chock-a-block full at the moment," Chief executive of Hospitality NT Alex Bruce said.
"We have more backpackers than positions to fill."
Backpackers are actually choosing Darwin to fulfil work visa obligations.
Irish backpacker Sinead Coady, who has been living in Australia for nine months and recently moved from Sydney to the Top End told ABC News, "I need to complete 88 days of regional work, so I chose Darwin to get that," she said.
Coady is looking to extend her visa another 12 months.
The visa extension can now be fulfilled with hospitality jobs, an option that wasn’t previously available to backpackers.
Prior to March 2022, working holiday-makers had to work in industries such as plant or animal cultivation, fishing and pearling, or mining.
Coady is now working behind the bar at Berry Springs.
"The travellers are not shy in being very clear and saying, 'hey, I want to come work for you, I need my 88 days'," Sloane said.
"That works for us because most of it is for … the dry season. It's when we need people for those temporary periods."
While fortunes are turning around in the NT, other cities and regions continue to struggle.
"Business is still struggling, and that's for skilled and unskilled labour," Australian Hotels Association chief executive Stephen Ferguson said.
"Chefs and cooks … are in critical supply through Australia and throughout the world.
"We're in a global contest for skills with countries such as New Zealand, Canada, the UK, the US for those types of skilled workers."
This issue does extend to the NT as well.
"We are still struggling to fill the skilled kitchen positions. That has been a problem," Sloane said.
"The way we focus on combating that is recruiting apprentices locally."
Jonathan Jackson, 24th May 2023
