![]() Papua New Guinea PRIME Minister James Marape has assured Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas that he will reach out to the Australian High Commission to help the 130 seasonal workers who are stranded in Australia. He said Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey had also indicated to him that he would also work on the issue to help the workers. Marape was responding to questions raised by Ipatas in Parliament yesterday about 130 seasonal workers under Labour Mobility Scheme (LMS) programme who went to Australia but had not been working for over four months and their visas also expired last week. Ipatas said the 130 seasonal workers were supposed to be employed by Linx Agency and also liaison officers in Gold Coast and Brisbane needed funding from the Government to visit the workers there. “I will reach out to the Australian High Commission at the very earliest to ensure their stay is not affected and bridging visas be offered to them and to ensure the governor’s request for them to at least find employment because of a failure of an employer,” Marape said.
Meanwhile, he explained that LMS arrangement with Australian government was a first of its kind and they had offered around 8,000 spaces for Papua New Guinean workers to go and work there. “We will relook into these seasonal workers arrangement to ensure we have one coordination here so all provinces and district are given equal opportunity and not provinces doing the arrangement on their own to avoid such experiences,” he said. He said they would not randomly pick anyone but those with good ethics, character and those who had completed Grade 12. “Because we want to move them from not just seasonal workers but as they go there, they can move into skill trainings, nursing, caregiving, carpentry, mechanical, plumbing and others, so they are not just earning money but learning skills to come back and help move the country forward,” Marape said. Statement/TheNational/PNGfacts Also read Comments are closed.
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