Australia strikes deal with Greens on taxing foreign workers

Australia's conservative government has struck a deal with a minor party on a tax rate that it says will encourage foreign travelers to pick fruit on the nation's farms.

Greens party leader Richard Di Natale said the government and his party reached a compromise Thursday on how much vacationers should be taxed on income earned picking farm produce next year.

The government would not go below a 15 percent rate for the so-called backpacker tax while the Greens asked for 13 percent.

Di Natale says the compromise involves the government agreeing to take less tax from the travelers' compulsory pension contributions.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce confirmed his government had reached a deal with the Greens. The breakthrough comes on the last day Parliament is to sit for the year.