Pacific workers picking
financial skills and fresh
produce
Our MoneyMinded financial education program – designed to help adults build budgeting, saving and money skills – has been helping Pacific workers during their mandatory two-week quarantine period in Australia.
The Australian agriculture industry, particularly the fresh produce sector, relies on seasonal interstate and overseas labour.
However, the availability of workers has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, with lockdowns and border closures making it difficult for backpacker and overseas work programs to operate.
Many Australian farmers have therefore been left with unharvested crops and wasted produce.
The Australian Government’s ‘Pacific Labour Scheme’ has helped fill regional and rural labour shortages, connecting Australian businesses with workers from nine Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste to help farmers harvest crops.
Arriving from the Pacific, workers are required to complete 14 days of mandatory quarantine when they arrive in Australia, before they can start work assisting farmers to harvest crops.
ANZ has provided MoneyMinded training and resources to Powerpac, an approved provider of the Federal Government’s Pacific Labour Scheme. Powerpac is delivering MoneyMinded to arriving workers during their quarantine period.
Around 240 people have been through the first delivery of MoneyMinded, with hundreds more expected over coming months.
