Business owners in Cairns, Australia are being forced to offer lucrative roles to foreign nationals as locals turn their nose up at $1000 a week positions.
Local MP Warren Entsch told The Daily Mail an applicant decided they would rather stay on the benefit than work on a farm, as they only received $200 a week less than the role offered.
One role on a local farm remains unfilled despite offering a $50,000 a year salary, and only asking for a Certificate III in agriculture or two years' experience in similar work.
Cairns has a youth unemployment rate of 14.5 percent, far higher than Australia's current national unemployment rate of 5.5 percent.
MP Bob Katter said the current visa system makes it difficult for hundreds of thousands of Australians unable to find work, allowing in foreign workers to take the roles.
"It's got to stop," he told The Daily Mail. "I am very angry with the Prime Minister about the 457s brought down."
The 457 visa allows employers to sponsor workers to be brought into Australia temporarily for work.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced in 2017 the visa would be scrapped and replaced with a new Temporary Skill Shortage visa.
Mr Katter started his working life cleaning toilets at a railway station and slowly worked his way to becoming an MP.
He said people should consider taking a role that isn't quite what they want in the long run.
"It may not be the job you want, but you've got to start somewhere," he said.
Newshub.
