Samoans replace Cowra’s job snobs
Cowra Meat Processors general manager Peter Brown and Samoan abattoir worker Harry Ielome.Picture: Renee Nowytarger
Some mornings Peter Brown is so desperate to find workers for his NSW regional abattoir that he’ll drive around town at 6am looking for casual employees.
Mr Brown, the general manager of Cowra Meat Processors, said he advertised for local workers but most didn’t want to do more than two days a week so as to maintain their dole benefits. The company he runs is the biggest employer in Cowra, in the state’s central west, with 180 to 200 workers, but he is constantly under pressure for staff and sometimes works on the floor himself to make up numbers.
There’s a methamphetamine problem in Cowra — and many young people are too ice-crazed.
“We had a good base of locals, older blokes,” Mr Brown told The Australian.
“But over time they got older and retired, and when relying on younger blokes, you can’t fill the jobs for this sort of work.”
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For Mr Brown, the answer lies thousands of kilometres away in the South Pacific.
He recently brought in his first seven workers from Samoa under the federal government’s Pacific Labour Scheme, in which they can work for three years and are then expected to return with a view to taking their skills with them.
Mr Brown said his seven Samoan men, who earn the same award wages as his Australian employees, were excellent, reliable workers, clean living, God-fearing, and all play rugby union for a local side.
What he and the Samoans can’t understand is why the federal government does not allow them to bring their families here to work, and get permanent residency, to provide a stable workforce and encourage regional economic growth.
One of the Samoans, Harry Ielome, 21, said he loved the work, and loved Cowra.
“This is very good money, I feel very happy in the job, and I want to lift up the company,” he said, adding that he would like to stay in Australia “forever”.
The Australian Meat Industry Council has asked for the three-year scheme to be extended to five to help Pacific Islanders achieve permanent residency. Immigration Minister David Coleman would not say whether the government would grant AMIC’s request.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/samoans-replace-cowras-junkies/news-story/b64b0ee0d3f2dafdc3bb3b493ca8bcbc?utm_source=The%20Australian&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=TodaySHeadlines
