Gina Rinehart-backed Bannister Downs Dairy has warned Australia has a problematic new "workforce culture", in which young people did not want to do menial labour or wanted to get paid too much money to do it.

Bannister Downs managing director Sue Daubney said many young people did not want to work in agriculture, which is why the sector needed to recruit foreign workers on 457 or temporary work visas.

"It's the new workforce culture that is the big problem. They expect to be paid high dollars and expect certain conditions. Agriculture can't afford that.": Bannister Downs Dairy managing director Sue Daubney. Credit:Philip Gostelow

"It is not just the cost of [labour] and the cost of managing it,which we all share in WA 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 told a Committee for the Economic Development of Australia luncheon in Perth on Tuesday.

"Sometimes in agriculture, I can tell you that's not very attractive and that's why we often end up with 457 visas or temporary residents because they understand the value of having a job and nothing is too much trouble as long as they get paid for it."