Finds job under Pacific seasonal workers scheme in Australia
A HANDFUL of jobless local university graduates have left the country to join the Pacific Seasonal Workers Scheme this year in searching for employments opportunities in Australia and New Zealand.
This is due of lack of employment opportunities in the country.
In an online interview with one of the graduates of University of the South Pacific (USP) who is now in Australia as part of the seasonal workers scheme, said, a good number of university graduates have resorted to joining the scheme.
This is because they have no option in their quest to look for employment opportunities.
The graduate who wants his named withhold said many of them have now joined the Pacific seasonal workers scheme in Australia.
“What pushes me to join was after I graduate with a degree in public administration and human resource management from USP in 2019, I was unable to secure any formal job with my qualification.
“I was bit unhappy with our government because some of us have been awarded with a government scholarship according to the government opportunity list which comes from the government human resources planning board.
“So, having that in mind I believe that by the time I graduate from university there will be a space vacant for me in the labour industries, however it turns the other way round,” he said disappointingly.
He said last year and early this year he managed to be part of a voluntary team with one of the government ministries doing voluntary work before he left for Australia in March this year.
“My main motivation to come here (Aust) is to earn money and if possible look for other alternatives to further my education as well as look for other employment opportunities here apart from the seasonal work,” he said.
He said in the future the government needs to come up with proper planning on how it issues out scholarship opportunities so that when a student graduates, theres already a job for him/her.
The paper understood, the government early this year put a hold on recruitment its recruitment drive due to the COVID-19 situation which had hit hard on government’s finance.
The Victoria Minister for Agriculture Mary-Anne Thomas said in a statement said the arrival of workers is a fantastic step to bolster the local workforce for the Big Victorian Harvest.
“We have worked hard to secure these workers in partnership with other jurisdictions following the challenges faced by the corona virus pandemic.”
Over the past weeks a good number of locals have traveled to Australia to work in farms and other areas needed by many farms in Australia.
Apart from Solomon Islands, workers from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu have also been engaged.
By FOLLET JOHN
Newsroom, Honiara
