Backpackers could soon pay an income tax rate between 10.5 per cent and the Federal Government's preferred 19 per cent with crossbenchers and the Opposition open to compromise.
The Government lowered its proposal from, originally, 32.5 cents on the dollar to 19, but it still could not find the numbers to get it through the Senate.
Senator Jacqui Lambie led the push to lower it to 10.5 per cent, drawing support from Labor, One Nation and crossbencher David Leyonhjelm to get the bill through.
"I've come up with a compromise, guys. Quite frankly, I'd like it at zero per cent. And if they really wanted to fix the damage, they would come out and wake up to themselves and not have any tax on these backpackers at all. Eighteen, 20 months, this has been sitting on the drawing board. Now, if they can't work out a simple tax like this, then you have to ask who the bloody hell's running the country?"
The Government used its numbers in the House of Representatives to quash the Senate's 10.5 per cent rate.
That leaves the bill back in the upper house facing a number of possible scenarios.
The National Party says the situation is urgent and must be sorted out within a week.
Nationals senator John Williams has told the A-B-C he is urging the Senate to accept the 19 per cent rate.
"We've had a long consultation process. We've got to sort this out next week. If the Senate does not come along with us at 19 cents, we'll see January the 1st 32.5 cents taxed to foreign workers, as the AAT, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, has ruled. That will just not encourage people to come to Australia, and we'll lose that important harvest work and many workers in abattoirs, et cetera."
One Nation, whose votes could finally decide the matter, has signalled support for a rate between 12 and 15 per cent.
And Labor is also leaving the door open to compromise.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has told the A-B-C he is willing to find middle ground.
"We are always open to a conversation with the Government. That's always our modus operandi, particularly in this case, when they are threatening to impose on farmers -- or backpackers and, therefore, farmers -- a 32.5 per cent rate."
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has told Sky News the Government will go no lower than 19 per cent.
"We are already pursuing a 13.5 per cent tax cut. Labor wants us to go for a 22.5 per cent tax cut. Nineteen per cent is what we're putting on the table. If Labor doesn't support that in the parliament next week, it will be 32.5 per cent, the (former Labor Treasurer) Wayne Swan tax rate which has been in place since 2012-2013."
But Nationals M-P George Christensen is not so sure.
He has told Sky News someone will likely change their response with the threat of a 32.5 per cent rate.
"Look, we'll see what happens over the next week on this, because, if we reach a stalemate, obviously something's going to have to give. But I really do think that the other side needs to recognise that 19 per cent has solved the problem."
For farmers, the next week will stretch very long, indeed, as they look to hire seasonal fruit pickers.
National Farmers Federation chief Fiona Simson is calling on the crossbench and the Labor Party to work with the Government to reach a solution.
She says the Government's suggested 19 per cent is fair and internationally competitive.
"We know that there are very, very sound reasons why 19 per cent is the right rate. This is the rate that was agreed through a number of stakeholders as a consensus agreement rate that was fair to Australian workers and the amount of tax that they pay, fair to workers such as those under the Pacific Island scheme, who pay 15 per cent."
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