Australia’s backpacker visa cuts threaten working holiday dream

Briton Johnny Gibbs has been in Australia for six months, surfing and working part-time – like countless other young people drawn to the country’s pristine beaches and laid-back way of life.He is one of thousands that venture Down Under on so-called “working holiday visas” – a chance to work, and play, in Australia for as long as three years.“A lot of places you can’t surf and work at the same time, so it’s kind of perfect,” said Gibbs, 22, from near Croydon in London.“They’re not really losing much by getting people to work in their country,” he said, his surfboard still wet from an afternoon dip at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach.“I’ve done a lot of different types of work on the working holiday visa, and that helps out the Australians as well. I’m not a harmful person. I’m only doing good.”A man arranges apples at a supermarket in Canberra on September 12. Photo: XinhuaAs a Briton, Johnny is lucky; he is not affected by the changes thanks to an agreement between London and Canberra. But many of his compatriots will be left waiting.Interior minister Tony Burke said this week that a backlog of applications from the UK for working holiday visas would continue to be processed slowly after a record 80,000 applications last year.