We'll be flexible on backpacker tax: Labor

Federal Labor has signalled it could back a lower backpacker tax rate.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wouldn't confirm the ALP's position on the controversial budget measure, which the government has delayed pending a review, but said Labor would be flexible on the issue.

"I am interested in the (National Farmers Federation) proposal which some of the principles include reducing the rate of tax on backpackers from 32 per cent to a lower level of 19 per cent," he told reporters in Townsville on Tuesday.