The women will graduate with Cert III qualifications in Honiara in the Solomon Islands on 20 December, and will be looking for job opportunities in Australia as soon as January.

Solomon Islands is one of the 11 islands covered by the Pacific Australian Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, and where this year labour hire and recruitment firm Labour Solutions Australia (LSA) is training 100 aged care workers.

37 are already employed around Australia in regional areas, including 12 in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in the remote north west of South Australia.

People interested in coming to Australia under the PALM scheme first register their interest in their home country in working in aged care in Australia. They then go through a worker readiness program to inform them about the program and are selected from the pool of workers, trained, and then a placement is found for them in Australia.

LSA's aged care staff from the Solomon Islands have been trained with Australian Indigenous owned Registered Training Organisation (RTO) Equinox at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara over a six-month period.

LSA employs the staff and hires them to the aged care provider, much like a labour hire model. Workers are paid at the same rates as their Australian colleagues, whether it's under an Award or Enterprise Agreement, and LSA adds an hourly margin of about $6 per hour or 13%.

LSA's Nathan Barnes, Mobilisation Administrator ‑ PALM, greets the staff on arrival, helps them find accommodation for the first 12 months, and keeps in touch throughout their employment. LSA also covers set up costs, which usually amount to about $1,500 per employee.

The workforce is stable with LSA as the employer, and with high rates of commitment and motivation from staff, says Hayley French, Regional Manager - Northern Australia. Most of the staff send 50% of their income home, where the money helps family and the community.

Workers can stay for four years, but LSA, which has been taking part in the PALM scheme for 5.5 years including for meatpackers, is beginning to see staff choose to return to Australia after a six-month 'mandatory offshore period'.