A labour hire business has thrown open its doors to stranded workers needing a place to stay following a major earthquake in Vanuatu.
Rodney Prestia, chief executive officer of Queensland-based iComply Horticulture Compliance Specialists, made an emotional offer of assistance over social media late on Tuesday.
IComply is a business registered with the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, which helps workers from the region find jobs at Australian businesses suffering skills shortages.
"Vanuatu has been so good to iComply over the years and Vanuatu is family to me," Mr Prestia said.
He revealed there was a clutch of PALM workers from Vanuatu who learned of the quake while preparing to return home on a flight to Port Vila.
"We actually had about 26 workers due to fly home ... they were at Brisbane Airport, already been through customs and excited to go home see their families after a nine-month stint," he said.
"The flight's been cancelled and we don't know when the flights are going to resume again."
He said other ni-Vanuatu workers were anxious as communication breakdowns meant they couldn't reach their families back home, and the heartache led him to making an offer of accommodation.
"If there's anybody that's stuck at Brisbane Airport, seasonal workers, and you need a place to stay, we've got plenty of beds at iComply at Toowoomba," he said.
"We'd only be too happy to welcome anyone from Vanuatu that is in a spot of bother in Brisbane, that can't get home (and needs) a bed and a cuppa and a meal and any other support that you need."
Mr Prestia said he didn't want to see workers spend money they'd earned and would need to help families rebuild.
Within hours, he had people taking up his offer.
"Happy to report that these 29 ladies that were (transiting) through Brisbane today from Perth and were stuck at the airport in Brisbane will become guests of Icomply until flights resume," the business Facebook page posted.
The business also hosted a prayer session in Stanthorpe with a local pastor to help put unsettled ni-Vanuatu at ease.
The PALM scheme - which replaced previous seasonal worker programs in 2022 - is often held up as a win-win for Australian workers in need of labour and Pacific workers and their families who benefit from wages they would not receive in their home countries.
The PALM scheme is not without criticism, with some employers found to have abused the system.
Both a NSW anti-slavery probe and a recent United Nations rapporteur reported evidence of wage deductions, racial discrimination, dangerous working conditions, harassment and sexual and gender-based violence.
Take-up has swollen in recent years, with more than 30,000 workers across the country, including 6240 from Vanuatu, more than any of the 10 eligible nations.
