Australia softens 'backpacker tax' after outcry

Australia on Tuesday watered down plans for a "backpacker tax" on foreigners on working holidays, after an outcry from farmers and tourism operators. Some 600,000 backpackers travel to Australia every year, many of them finding work picking fruit, and farmers had complained bitterly that the tax could affect labour supply at harvest time. "We recognise absolutely the important part that backpackers play in the overall tourism industry," Treasurer Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.