A GROUP of men employed under the three-year Pacific Island Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme has arrived in Australia.
After training this week, the 31 workers from Tonga and Kiribati will be employed by MADEC Labour Hire for the next six months on the almond harvest near Robinvale, in northwest Victoria.
MADEC operations manager Sue Hamence said "extensive labour-market testing" was completed before the islanders were recruited.
"The results highlighted the need for additional harvest workers to support the local labour force," she said.
The three-year scheme was introduced by the Federal Government after growers battled harvest labour shortages.
A pre-pilot scheme last year brought 56 workers from Tonga and Vanuatu to harvest almonds.
