Results for seasonal workers

Three repatriation flights to Tonga are now expected to arrive on March 31 and April 1. The flights will be from Auckland, Brisbane and Fiji.

107 passengers were repatriated to Tonga on a chartered flight from Australia this afternoon. A group of seasonal workers also departed Tonga on the same flight.

152 seasonal workers left Tonga on a chartered flight for Tasmania in Australia this afternoon, January 22.

The 152 Tongan fruit pickers who arrived in Emerald, Australia, on 29 October were able to work during the two weeks of quarantine on a farm, under a pilot trial, that has saved fruit from rotting. Queensland was the first state in Australia to allow farmworkers to work while quarantining.

Two repatriation flights are scheduled to bring 200 passengers in total to Tonga from Brisbane and Auckland next week, on 29 and 30 October the Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola confirmed today.

Two Tongan seasonal workers, Suliasi Fangatua (30) and Taniela Siale (22), both pleaded guilty to violently abducting and raping a 35-year-old woman in February last year, when they appeared before the Dunedin District Court in Otago, New Zealand yesterday 16 January.

There are signs of improvement in the protection of Pacific seasonal workers from exploitation and neglect in Australia, said the President of the Pacific Australia Seasonal Workers Association (PASWA) in Sydney, Falepaini Maile. Six Tongans were among 14 Pacific Islander seasonal workers who have died from ill health since the working programme started in 2012. By Finau Fonua

The bodies of four Tongan seasonal workers who were killed in a horrific car crash near Tauranga in New Zealand earlier this month arrived at Fua'amotu International Airport this morning, Friday August 12.

'Oku hange kiate au 'oku kamata pe ta'emahino' te'eki ke fakafolau e tu'unga matu'a ko'eni ki NZ. 'Oku hange 'a e fakamatala ko'eni' 'oku 'ikai ha fekau'aki e pule'anga Tonga mo e alea ko'eni' 'oku fai ai e hoha'a'. Kapau ko e fokotu'utu'u 'eni 'a e pule'anga' ko e toonounou eni 'a e kau 'ofisa na'a nau fokotu'utu'u e aleapau'. Kapau ko e alea 'i tu'a fakataautaha pea ko e tangata koia ko Sefita Haouli 'oku ha mai he fakamatala 'oku totonu ke 'omai mei ai e fakaikiiki 'o e palopalema ko'eni. 'I he fakamatala kuo tuku mai mei he kau mamahi ne folau' 'oku hange ia na'e fai ha tohi aleapau ki he founga ngaue' mo e totongi faka'aho' 'o tatau ai pe 'ae 'osi vave pe tuai e ngaue'. - Siosiua Moimoiangaha