Unemployed Australians will be able to earn $5000 on top of the dole without penalty if they secure seasonal farm work under a scheme put together by the Nick Xenophon Team.
The Turnbull government was able to secure the support of NXT for its controversial backpacker tax by agreeing to a $30 million trial run of the arrangement from mid-2017.
As it stands now an unemployed person earning more than $104 a fortnight loses 50 cents in the dollar.
"It is about widening and deepening the pool from which farmers can draw labour," NXT MP Rebekah Sharkie told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
The two-year trial caters for up to 6000 young or older people to connect with local farmers.
For someone who lives more than 120km from a position of employment, government will provide a $300 assistance payment.
"It is about that bridge into agriculture work and an opportunity for many to try a new style of employment and hopefully many staying on the farm," Ms Sharkie, a former executive of Youth Connections, said.
The trial will start next July to allow the government time to get the implementation right.
The government announced on Monday a compromise 15 per cent rate on the foreign backpackers' tax, lower than its initial plan of 19 per cent but above the 10.5 per cent preferred by the Senate.
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