Pacific Islands Scheme

Tongans take up visas for Kojonup work

Beaufort River Meats plant manager Stu Cruden said six more workers would be arriving at the Kojonup plant after Christmas.

They applied for visas through a placement agency which sourced the work on their behalf after the scheme became available in July.

Under the Pacific Labour Scheme workers from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are able to apply for low and semi-skilled employment, for a long as three years, as part of a government bid to fill employment shortages in rural and regional Australia.