The government has made a second backdown in as many months on the backpacker tax.
This morning the Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the government would drop the rate to 15 per cent.
That's down from the 19 per cent offered in September as a compromise with farmers, the tourism sector and many within the Coalition themselves, which all firmly opposed the original 32.5 per cent tax on working holiday makers announced in the 2015 budget.
The rate of 15 per cent is in line with what Pauline Hanson's One Nation suggested and should be enough to get the eight cross-benchers on side to pass it through the Senate in this final week of Parliament.
Mr Morrison said he rang Senator Hanson to tell her about the new rate before Parliament started on Monday morning.
Labor had sided with Tasmanian Independent Jacqui Lambie to get a 10.5 per cent rate passed through the Senate last week but the government refused to pass that through the House.
Mr Morrison put the blame for the farce on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
"The villain in this, the phoney in this is Bill Shorten and the Labor Party who are quite happy just to blow up the show, blow up the budget on every single occasion," he said.
The Treasurer said the shortfall of $120m over four years created by the back down will have to be made up elsewhere, but wouldn't say how.
Senator Pauline Hanson released a statement which said her four votes will support the 15 per cent rate.
