Tony Burke
Australian Labor politician and Minister for Home Affairs.
Tony Burke, Australia's Home Affairs minister, said on 17 September that backpackers seeking a second or third working holiday year will enter a ballot, with the third year cut to 5,000 places. No start dates exist.
Last refreshed: 3 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Will Australia's backpacker ballot cut net migration or just working-holiday numbers?
Timeline for Tony Burke
Announced ballots for second- and third-year working holiday visas
Nomads & Communities: Canberra puts backpacker visas to ballotBackground
Tony Burke is a Labor politician and Australia's Minister for Home Affairs, a POST he has held since July 2024. The portfolio puts him in charge of visas, borders and the migration numbers that dominate Australian politics.
On 17 September 2026, speaking to the National Press Club, he said extra years on a working holiday visa would no longer follow automatically from regional work but be drawn by ballot. Year two is capped at 45,000 places, against 57,000 people WHO qualified the previous year. Year three falls to 5,000 places from 31,000 qualifiers. On those numbers about four in five second-year applicants would win a place, but fewer than one in six third-year applicants would. He also said new visitor visas will carry a no-further-stay condition, which blocks most onshore applications for other visas, protection claims aside, and does not affect people already in the country.
Burke framed both changes around net overseas migration. He published no start dates for either measure.
How many second-year working holiday visas will Australia grant?
What is the no-further-stay condition?
When do Australia's working holiday ballots start?
