An agriculture business leader has claimed the lazy work ethic of young Australians is impeding the nation’s prosperity and forcing employers to import cheap overseas labour.

Bannister Downs Dairy managing director Sue Daubney said young people did not want jobs in agriculture because they were not prepared to “do what needs doing”.

Ms Daubney told an economic development luncheon in Perth on Tuesday this mentality is leading a surge for 457 visa and temporary resident staff, the Australian Financial Review reported.

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“It’s the new workforce culture that is the big problem,” Ms Daubney said.

“They expect to be paid high dollars and expect certain conditions. Agriculture can’t afford that.

Sue Daubney has questioned the nation’s work ethic Photo: ABC

“It is not just the cost of [labour] and the cost of managing it.

“But the growing issues that we are getting with culture and the work ethic that is coming through and the preparedness to do what needs doing.”

Ms Daubney even accused young Australian job seekers of not “understanding the value of having a job”, making her argument for overseas labour a matter of work ethic, more than economic cost.

“That’s why we often end up with 457 visas or temporary residents,” she said. “They understand the value of having a job and nothing is too much trouble as long as they get paid for it.”

Ms Daubney heads the Bannister Downs Dairy in Western Australia, the venture backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart. She was speaking at a function for the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia.

Ms Daubney’s comments echoed calls made in 2012 by Ms Rinehart, who said cheap African workers are better for Australia’s future.

The use of 457 visas has been a contentious topic in Australia for years.

The Labor Party strongly opposes the use of foreign workers, whom it claims supplant local workers.

“I don’t support the wholesale use of 457 visa,” Labor leader Bill Shorten said last year.

“At a time when there is increasing unemployment, and at a time when there are a lot of adults who would like retraining.”

The party’s backers, the unions, have blanketed free-to-air and paid television channels with advertisements claiming that free trade agreements signed by the Liberal Party would increase the use of 457 visas.