Agni Deo Singh is not bothered by “criticisms” that have questioned his extensive travel to Australia this year.
The Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations also visited Australia last month to visit workers under the Pacific Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
“I think all these people (critics) need to talk to the relatives of these workers and also get comments from these workers on how they feel and what we have been able to do for them,” he said.
“Then they will get the answers and they should read the press releases that have been coming out the time we have been out there. We are not worried about the criticisms.
“What we are worried about is the welfare of our people. They are our people, they need us to make sure that they are looked after. That’s the bottom line.”
He added that a full report about his trip would be released in the coming days. Mr Singh also said there was a lot to learn from this trip.
“We now have our country liaison officer there who has hit the ground running and he is dealing with all those employment grievances that has come up and we are now in the process of appointing two more country liaison officers.
“We have the one who is in Victoria now, and then one in Queensland, which has been advertised and shortlisted and the interview process is taking place.
“We will be advertising the third one for New South Wales this week, we will be left for the last one in Western Australia, which we will be advertising soon.
“Once we have all four, they will be directly liaising with the employers who may in any way be treating our workers unfairly, so that is going to be a huge relief.”
