Thousands Stand Ready to Work

Solomon Island's High Commissioner to Australia, Beraki Jino, told an inaugural regional meeting on seasonal employment in Australia that Solomon Islands is prepared to send as many as a thousand workers to Australia.

The inaugural Seasonal Worker Program Conference held in Sydney this week was also to officially launch Australia's Seasonal Worker Program.

Worth AUD21.7m the program wants to provide a reliable, returning workforce for Australia's horticulture sector.

The program will also trial seasonal labour mobility arrangements in four new sectors in Australia including aquaculture, cane, cotton and accommodation industries.

Under the program, seasonal workers from nine Pacific countries will also receive training in English literacy, numeracy, first aid and basic computer skills.

Speaking at the Conference in Sydney, Solomon Island's High Commissioner to Canberra, Beraki Jino, said recruiting agents in Solomon Islands are all prepared and ready to do the job.

Mr Jino said Solomon Islands wants to send as many workers as possible under the Program but it also depends on the employers in Australia.

He told the Conference Solomon Islands is ready to send more than a couple of hundreds up to one-thousand workers to work under the Program in Australia.

Countries eligible to participate include East Timor, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.