Backpackers looking to extend their visas in Australia will be able do so if they help out with bushfire recovery.
People who have a work, live and travel visa Down Under have to complete certain types of work (like on a farm or winery) for several months in order to add another year onto their visa.
However, the government is working out new rules that would allow these people to have more time in Australia if they help out the communities that have been decimated by bushfires.
The Australian reports the government will add volunteering in these communities to the list of available places that contribute to a visa extension. Construction work in disaster zones will also count.
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Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge told the newspaper: "These hardworking Australians have been hit by the recent bushfires, but from today they can employ backpackers for six months longer, helping them at a critical time in the recovery effort.
"This recovery will be driven locally, by local workers and communities.
"But this will be a massive recovery effort and we want businesses and charitable organisations to have as many boots on the ground as they need."
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Mr Tudge is expected to unveil the particulars of the proposal later today in regional Victoria, according to 9News.
It's hoped the move will not only help those wanting to stay in Australia but also the locals and businesses that have been hit hard by the bushfire season.
Last week it was announced that all bushfires in New South Wales had been contained. It was the first time since the bushfire season began late last year that the Rural Fire Service is in this position.
The news was announced on social media, with the RFS saying: "In what has been a very traumatic, exhausting and anxious bush fire season so far, for the first time this season all bush and grass fires in NSW are now contained.
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"It has taken a lot of work by firefighters, emergency services and communities to get to this point."
Since the bushfire season started, there have been more than 11,000 bush and grass fires. In total, these fires burned through a whopping 5.4 million hectares - which is larger than the size of countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia or Estonia.
During that same time period, we have lost 25 lives and around 2,400 homes were destroyed, with many more properties or buildings also gone. On the flip side, firefighters have managed to save more than 14,000 homes from being razed, which is a massive effort.
The number of animals lost is expected to be in the hundreds of millions.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: News, Bushfires, Australia
