Australian campaign imagines life without migrant workers

Hospitality NT, the industry body representing pubs, restaurants and hotels in Australia’s Northern Territory, has released a satirical video imagining how hospitality and care services would cope without migrant workers.

Shared on Instagram, the film turns a political debate into a simple question: what happens when the people doing these jobs are no longer there?

The campaign responds to the federal government’s announced plans to introduce a ballot for working holidaymakers seeking to stay for a second or third year. Hospitality NT warns the changes will mean 40,000 fewer workers in regional and remote Australia, with the Northern Territory among the areas hardest hit.

The industry body argues that working holidaymakers are particularly valuable to hospitality and accommodation businesses because they are mobile and willing to travel to where seasonal jobs exist.

Alongside the Australian Hotels Association and its state and territory branches, Hospitality NT is calling on the government to address delays in skilled work applications and protect regional employers from staff shortages.

The creative takes a dry policy issue and gives it an everyday consequence. The workers at the centre of the immigration debate become conspicuous by their absence.

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