More than 100 seasonal workers left Tonga on a chartered flight for Australia this afternoon, February 25. Tonga has since last year been sending seasonal workers to Australia, despite the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and border closures.
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Results for Australia
Thursday 25 February 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Thursday 18 February 2021
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Canberra, Australia
Australia plans to start the roll out of the Pfizer/BioNTech CoViD-19 vaccine next week to the first and most vulnerable Australians from 22 February.

Wednesday 10 February 2021
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Sydney, Australia
Eight hundred and fifteen additional seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands, including Tonga, have been approved to help fill jobs in horticulture and meat processing industries in New South Wales, Australia.

Friday 22 January 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
152 seasonal workers left Tonga on a chartered flight for Tasmania in Australia this afternoon, January 22.

Wednesday 23 December 2020
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Tasmania, Australia
The 162 seasonal workers who left Tonga on Monday for Australia, are spending 14 days in quarantine in a hotel before they are released to work on farms in Tasmania.

Wednesday 25 November 2020
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Melbourne, Australia
New York times reporting: The shark attacked Sunday, when Charles Cernobori, 59 and a father of three, was bodysurfing off Cable Beach in Western Australia. A couple found him, dragged him to the beach and called emergency services.

Wednesday 4 November 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s navy has received a second guardian class patrol boat, the VOEA Ngahau Siliva, contributed by the Australian Government. Tonga's High Commissioner to Australia Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka Tuku’aho formally accepted the new vessel at the town of Henderson in Western Australia last Friday 30 October.
Tuesday 3 November 2020
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Queensland, Australia
One hundred and fifty seasonal workers from Tonga arrived in Queensland on October 29 to fill the shortage of workers needed for the agriculture and horticulture industries between now and Christmas.

Monday 2 November 2020
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Sydney, Australia
New York Times reporting: They used to call it “the tyranny of distance.” Australia’s remoteness was something to escape... until the pandemic. The virus has turned this outgoing nation into a hermit. Australia’s borders are closed, internationally and between several states. Its economy is smaller, and its population growth has fallen to its lowest rate in more than 100 years. Island living looks like a privilege when the world is pestilent. By Damien Cave.

Friday 16 October 2020
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New York Times: The Great Barrier Reef, one of the Earth’s most precious habitats, lost half of its coral populations in the last quarter-century, a decline that researchers in Australia said would continue unless drastic action is taken to mitigate the effects of climate change. By Maria Cramer.

Thursday 3 September 2020
Canberra, Australia
Tonga’s High Commissioner to Australia, Princess Angelika Latufuipeka Tuku’aho is looking for creative artwork or photos and stories that symbolise and celebrate Tonga's 50 years relationship with Australia - and three cash prizes are offered for the top submissions.
Tuesday 2 June 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Around eighty Tongan students studying in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and Australia under the Australia Awards Scholarships have had to adjust their normal study routine to cope with CoViD-19 restrictions.

Thursday 16 April 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Australia has provided immediate financial assistance to Tonga after severe Tropical Cyclone Harold and supoort in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thursday 26 March 2020
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Australian Volunteers were flown out of Tonga on a charter flight organised by the Australian Volunteers International (AVI) on 25 March, confirmed the Australian High Commission (AHC) in Tonga today.

Wednesday 12 February 2020
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Brisbane, Australia
The Queensland Tongan Language School was opened in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday 8 February. The school is hosted at Griffith University Logan Campus and offers a 12-month-course in the Tongan language.

Tuesday 22 October 2019
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Sydney, Australia
Tonga's Royal Corps of Musicians along with more than 1,500 international performers taking part in The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo have officially marched out of Sydney, following spectacular performances in the biggest-ever show in the Tattoo's 69-year history. It was highly appreciated by Australian audiences.

Friday 13 September 2019
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Brisbane, Australia
The Brisbane Tongan Community have expressed sadness at the passing of the Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon Samuela 'Akilisi Pōhiva in Auckland, New Zealand.

Tuesday 12 March 2019
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tongan workers may take up semi-skilled jobs in Australia for a period of up to three-years under a Pacific Labour Scheme, after a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Tonga government on March 12 at St George Government Building.

Thursday 11 January 2018
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Australia’s Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – who visited Tonga in 2016 to sign the ‘Tonga-Australia Aid Partnership’ – is facing a formal complaint by China’s Foreign Ministry. The complaint responds to scathing remarks that Fierravanti-Wells made yesterday in a prominent Australian newspaper ‘The Australian’ where she berated China’s development aid projects in Pacific Island countries.
Wednesday 27 December 2017
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Sydney, Australia
The Australian state of Victoria has established a new law to crack down on the neglect and exploitation of seasonal workers, most of whom are Pacific Islanders working under Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program. The law establishes the “Labour Hire Licensing Authority”, a body to monitor and punish hiring operators who neglect labourers. Tonga is the largest source of labourers under the Seasonal Worker Program.
