More international workers will fly into Brisbane and be driven to the Lockyer Valley to quarantine before working in the region. Here’s when and where they will arrive.
The initial 160 overseas workers who quarantined at Grantham are the core group to help a severe shortage of labour in the Lockyer Valley, but there are plans to bring more workers here.
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Subscriber only Just days before quarantine workers are due to be released into the fields, the agricultural department says it consulted with local regional council, agencies and organisations prior to overseas workers starting their coronavirus quarantining at Grantham. When 160 overseas workers, predominantly from the Solomon Islands, arrived in Grantham on June 7, the Grantham community was confused and frustrated with the lack of consultation. But the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries says it conducted consultation with the relevant parties prior to the labour hire workers arriving at the Grantham Farmworkers Lodge. It s important to note the site poses no risk to the community, however immediate neighbours of a quarantine site are advised that incoming workers will be quarantining there, a department spokesperson said.
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A request from Lockyer Valley mayor Tanya Milligan to inform and consult residents before the arrival and quarantine of 160 international workers in Grantham was ignored by the Queensland governmentâs Department of Agriculture, she has claimed.
Cr Milligan has slammed the non-existent community consultation as âdisappointingâ and said councilâs request to the agriculture department for the Grantham community to be informed ahead of the seasonal workersâ arrival on Friday, May 7.
Cr Milligan said the Lockyer Valley Regional Council was contacted via the local disaster management group to establish their opinion on the workers from Vanuatu and Pacific Islands quarantining at a hub in Grantham.
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