Posted May 19, 2016 18:08:22

Photo: Jackson paid one backpacker the equivalent of $1.35 an hour. (AAP: Dan Peled, file photo)

A Tasmanian businessman has been fined tens of thousands of dollars for exploiting young backpackers who he lured to a remote town before sacking them and leaving them stranded.

Harold William Jackson formerly owned and operated a hardware store and adjacent cafe and bakery in Queenstown.

An investigation by the Fair Work ombudsman found he exploited five backpackers, aged in their 20s, who travelled to Australia on a 417 working holiday visa.

Jackson underpaid the workers $42,985 between July 2013 and February 2014.

One worker from Italy was paid the equivalent of $1.35 an hour.

Under Australian laws, the workers were entitled to be paid more than $19 an hour and up to $32 an hour for some weekend work.

Federal Circuit Court Judge Terry McGuire said the treatment of the backpackers was "calculated" and "callous".

Jackson also made bogus claims in job ads to lure backpackers to the remote town.

The 417 working holiday visa is available to young people who want to holiday and work in Australia for up to two years.

Workers must undertake 88 days of paid work in a regional area in their first year to be eligible to apply for a second.

However, Jackson refused to sign off on the 88-day requirement and arbitrarily sacked a number of workers, leaving them financially stranded in Queenstown.

Judge McGuire also found Jackson was uncooperative in the investigative process.

Jackson was penalised $71,910. He is yet to comply with a January court order to back-pay the workers.

Topics: lifestyle-and-leisure, law-crime-and-justice, travel-and-tourism, courts-and-trials, queenstown-7467