Seasonal workers in northern Tasmania are finding a warm and welcoming community in a local Catholic parish. Source: Hobart Archdiocese.
Many of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme employees are from Timor-Leste and are working on farms in the Ulverstone and Penguin areas, as Mersey-Leven parish priest Fr Sunil De Silva explained.
Fr De Silva was delighted to join parishioners in welcoming Timor-Leste’s ambassador to Australia, Inês Maria De Almeida, and a delegation of dignitaries to Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ulverstone, last month.
Ms De Almeida and the delegation were keen to meet workers and visit farms.
“The ambassador spent time speaking to her people and then they headed to the big farms in Ulverstone and Penguin to meet more of the [Timor-Leste] community working in the Mersey-Leven Parish area, Fr De Silva said.
The number of PALM employees attending Mass fluctuates from 12 to more than 60, depending on the season and work schedules, Fr De Silva said.
“They are very religious people and they join our Sunday Mass,” he said. “They have very good singers and they sing their songs in our Mass.
“People like them, and our communities are welcoming.”
The PALM scheme allows eligible Australian businesses to hire workers from nine Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste when there are not enough local workers available. Most work in agricultural and meat processing sectors.
According to PALM data for June, there were 31,055 workers in Australia, of which 4290 were from Timor-Leste. There were 1800 PALM workers, from all countries, in Tasmania in June.
According to Vatican figures, Catholics comprise 95 per cent of the Timor-Leste population of 1.4 million. Pope Francis visited the capital, Dili, in September 2024.
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Warm welcome for Ambassador’s visit (By Wendy Shaw, Hobart Archdiocese)
