Thousands of people in Vanuatu have attended an awareness session on seasonal work opportunities in Australia.
Thousands attended the Vanuatu Labour Department's seasonal worker awareness event at Independence Park in Port Vila, 10 February 2021 Photo: Hilaire Bule
Over two-thousand people gathered at the event at Independence Park in Port Vila run by Vanuatu's department of labour.
The department is registering eligible candidates. Its director, Murielle Meltenoven, says that due to the large number of the people the registration will last two days.
She says Vanuatu is planning to send a thousand seasonal workers to Australia for three-year contracts.
"What we are doing is to mobilise workers to go through an awareness session, and after the awareness workers will have to register themselves and they will also need to do other tests in order to be eligible to be part of the work-ready pool."
Ni-Vanuatu showed keen interest in the Vanuatu Labour Department's seasonal worker awareness event at Independence Park in Port Vila, 10 February 2021 Photo: Hilaire Bule
Ms Meltenoven says criteria requirements include fitness testing, alcohol and drug trusting, and being able to speak English.
She said the initial plan was to recruit about 1,500 workers in the pool from which those who go to Australia are selected.
"We also want to reach out to other provinces, to make sure that each province has a fair sharing of workers in our work-ready pool system."