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Wednesday, December 7, 2016
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Christmas cheer is here The festive season has well and truly arrived in Mareeba. More than 1500 locals attended the town’s annual Carols by Candlelight and Christmas Fair at Mareeba Turf Club last Sunday, enjoying plenty of live entertainment, market stalls and a special visit from Santa Claus himself. The night was capped off by several heart-warming performances of Christmas carols as families merrily sung along. PHOTOS Page 7 Photo by Peter Roy
Open for business By Michael Serenc
TABLELANDS leaders are hoping the fallout from the backpacker tax debacle will be short lived ahead of the region’s busy fruit picking season. Despite the Federal Government’s last minute deal with the Greens to pass a 15 per cent tax on working holidaymakers earning up to $18,200 a year, Mareeba District Fruit and Vegetable Grow-
ers Association president Joe Moro said the uncertainty had already seen some backpackers turning away from farm work. “There has definitely been a drop off,” he said. “We’re in December now and starting to see the real impacts of less backpackers in the area. “I think a lot of damage has been done and this debate, especially in the past two months, has really sent negative messages across the world.” As part of the compromise deal, the govern-
ment will only take 65 per cent out of every dollar paid in superannuation to working backpackers instead of 95 per cent. Mr Moro said there was never a need for the prolonged tax debate, which had been drawn out for the best part of 18 months after the Federal Government originally wanted to tax backpackers at 32.5 per cent. “There’s no winners in this because it took to the last sitting day of parliament to get a resolu-
tion and that is something I think farmers will be talking about for a long time,” he said. “They’ve been very disillusioned with the whole process…It’s been a very difficult period.” But Mr Moro said the Tablelands still had the advantage of being close to a backpacker magnet in Cairns. “There’s going to be short-term pain for us be cause of the way it’s been handled and managed,” he said. CONTINUED Page 3
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