The first group of workers from Papua New Guinea to be employed in Australia’s aged care sector under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme has arrived in regional Queensland.
The eight workers from PNG provinces including Western Highlands, New Ireland and Morobe will be employed by Southern Cross Care at aged care facilities at Chinchilla, Murgon, and Taroom in Southeast Queensland, where local aged care staff have been hard to find.
The Albanese Government is continuing to build a skilled aged care workforce so that older people in Australia can receive high quality, safe care.
More than 600 PALM scheme workers are working in residential aged care homes in Australia.
The Government is supporting an additional 500 to attain formal aged care qualifications while working in Australia, with placements to start from this month.
This is the first time that PALM scheme workers from PNG have been employed in Australia’s aged care sector and demonstrates the Albanese Government’s commitment to supporting PNG’s ambitions to increase its participation in the PALM scheme.
There are 1,400 workers from PNG currently in Australia under PALM, working in a range of sectors such as agriculture and meat processing.
Of these, 625 workers are based in Queensland, contributing to the culture and vibrancy of local communities.
PNG PALM workers have spent more than $2.5 million in Queensland communities since July 2018.
As a result of the Government’s commitment to expand and improve the PALM scheme, the total number of Pacific and Timor-Leste workers in Australia has risen from just over 24,400 a year ago to just over 38,000 today.