Mother calls for more rights for backpackers working in Australia

The mother of Mia Ayliffe-Chung, a British woman killed last August whileworking in Australia, has said farmers in the country are "making huge amounts of money out of our backpackers" which has "got to stop".

Rosie Ayliffe told the BBC on a trip to Australia to lobby for more rights formigrant workers that Britons are "propping up their agricultural industry in effect".

20-year-old Mia, from Wirksworth in Derbyshire, was working on a farm, which her mother said was "way over her head", in order to extend her working holiday visa when she was killed last year.

In the first year of their trips, many backpackers choose to do 88 days ofrural work, usually agricultural, in order to get a visa to stay in the countryfor a second year.

Mrs Ayliffe is now campaigning for tighter regulation on the farmers andhostels that employ and house foreign workers during that time.

Mia was stabbed at the hostel she was staying at while working on a nearby farm.

Another British backpacker, 30-year-old Tom Jackson from Congleton in Cheshire, sustained fatal injuries as he attempted to help her.

French national Smail Ayad has been accused of their murders. The case against him was adjourned in February at a magistrates' court in Townsville,Queensland.

Mrs Ayliffe also visited the hostel in Queensland where her daughter was killed.