Cohort of overseas workers given permission to travel to the NT to help mango farmers

Hundreds of overseas workers have gained permission to travel to the Territory in a major victory for the Territory’s mango farmers faced with a critical worker shortage.

AROUND 400 overseas workers have been given the green light to quarantine at Howard Springs in a major victory for the Territory’s mango farmers faced with a worker crisis that threatened the coming mango season.

The NT Government and private industry have worked with the Federal Government through its Seasonal Workers Program to gain permission for the 400 overseas workers to begin quarantine in Darwin over the next month or so, before heading to mango farms for the peak of the mango season to pick the Territory’s predicted bumper harvest this year.

Federal Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud has also announced an Agriculture-specific Visa (Ag Visa) aimed at providing real long-term workforce relief to Australian farmers.

The Ag Visa will widen the recruitment opportunities for an uncapped number of low to highly skilled workers from ASEAN countries. Chief Minister Michael Gunner said a group of 162 seasonal workers from Vanuatu will arrive at the Centre for National Resilience at Howard Springs on August 31.

A further 223 workers from Samoa will arrive on September 19.

The workers will use beds on the international side of the Centre for National Resilience. The CNR has an international capacity of 2000 and not all beds had been allocated for September.

“To stay the comeback capital we must be nimble and fill the skill gaps and labour demands as our economy grows,” Mr Gunner said.

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“We thank the Feds for working with us to make this happen.”

75 overseas workers who quarantined in WA for 14 days arrived in Darwin on Saturday and are doing another three – days quarantine in Howard Springs in line with the ‘Day 17’ test rules in the chief health officer direction. T

hey must return a negative test, and will then be deployed to mango farms across the Territory.

A further 10 overseas workers have already completed their quarantine requirements and have begun work.

In total 470 overseas workers will be safely quarantined and deployed to mango farms across the Territory by early October.

The Territory produces more than 50 per cent of Australia’s mangoes each year – about 5 million trays.