Australian mining company targets Kiwi staff, amid claims Australian workers ‘too lazy to get off their backsides’

A Perth mining company says it is forced to search NZ to fill jobs paying up to $300,000 because Aussies don't want to work. Photo / File

Desperate employers in Australia are seeking Kiwis to fill high-paying mining jobs, amid claims Australians are “too lazy to get off their backsides” to work.

Mineral Resources, a Perth mining company, launched an advertising campaign targeting Kiwis promising a “great pay packet” and “amazing incentives”.

CEO Mike Grey told Daily Mail Australia that the company was offering double - or in some cases triple - the salary Kiwi applicants are currently receiving for roles in mines across Australia.

“We know New Zealanders are great workers and bring valuable skills, so looking to this market to find great people during a skills crisis was a no-brainer,” he said.

Grey, himself a Kiwi, was careful not to draw comparisons when asked if Kiwis are harder workers but said the work ethic was “very similar”.

“We have many Kiwis working for us already and they’re not only hard workers, but a great fit for our business with similar training, skills and great culture,” Grey said

The Daily Mail however reported others slamming Aussies as “lazy” and for being welfare “rorters”.

On January 1, over a million Australians including students, carers, and war veterans, received an increase in welfare benefits.

Media personality and social commentator Prue MacSween said it was “an obscenity” that many Aussies are taking advantage of its welfare system.

“How sad that these Australians are missing out because they are too damn lazy and don’t want to get off their backsides,” she said.

“It’s sad because these people have no dignity, no direction and are missing out on the feeling of satisfaction that comes with having a job.”

McSween said the number of Australians choosing to be unemployed and on the dole was appalling.

“There is an attitude across some generations, you could say all generations, that people are willing to play the system,” she said.

On roles paying up to $300,000 she said: “Kiwis are already paid so little, they probably think this is Nirvana.

“And then there’s the idiot Australians turning their backs. Too many people refuse to ‘diminish themselves by waiting tables or picking fruit,” she said.

“I really fear for this country. I feel we’re going in the wrong direction in so many ways. We’ve had it too good for too long.”

Kiwi chef Andrew Lee, who has worked in both New Zealand and Australia, sparked debate online when he suggested last month that Aussie hospitality workers lacked drive in the kitchen.

“The biggest problem with Australia is there’s too many Australians. A lot of the Aussies don’t want to work, especially in the hospitality industry,” he said in the Altbays podcast hosted by Fabian Roberts and Leo Magri.

He added that if he could fill a kitchen, he would have Kiwis, Brazilians and Argentinians.

Lee, a hospitality veteran of almost 40 years, said also that a lot of younger staff he saw didn’t have a good work ethic.

“They’re not here to learn, they’re just here to fill their pockets with money,” he said.

“The work ethic in the kitchen these days is not a lot and it’s really sad.”