The ABC reported that “an estimated 2,500 unskilled workers from Tonga, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu were planned to take part in the Australian government program”. The pilot scheme called Pacific Seasonal Worker Scheme is turning out to be too costly for some employers to implement.

The trial part of the scheme was to last three years and commenced last year, the trial was to ascertain whether bringing these workers in to Australia would boost the economic development in Pacific nations. The scheme was also predicted to fill labour shortfalls in the Australian horticulture industries.

However, a local Queensland based contracting company who took part in the trial and took on around 30 Tongan workers to pick fruit said that he could not afford to recruit any more Pacific Workers. “If I was to employ Pacific Islander workers I would have to guarantee them a certain number of hours a week at a certain pay rate which is actually higher than what the pay rate guarantee for the average Australian worker is,” he said. Also stating “I’m having to charge my farmers and my clients more to use the Pacific islander program” which ultimately impacted his business.

Australia’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) have not released a comment yet whilst the National Farmers Federation (NFF) said that it also had some concerns about the results the trial was producing and will raise these concerns with the Australian government.

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