Vanuatu's government has given the green light for about 170 workers to travel to Australia's Northern Territory to work on the mango harvest.
The pilot programme is being run by the Australian government and industry groups for the looming mango harvest, with a shortage of labour in the far north of the country.
It will see the workers flown to Covid-free Darwin, where they will be quarantined for two weeks and tested before working.
It looked to be ready to go, but it spent much of the week up in the air with the Vanuatu government understood to be largely opposed to it.
But a cabinet meeting on Monday finally saw it given the green light.
An Opposition MP and former seasonal worker recruitment agent is John Salong, who says it will be an important pilot to see whether seasonal work programmes could be possible this summer.
He told Jamie Tahana the workers were all set to depart on Tuesday - but now they've been told they have to wait a few more days.
John Salong Photo: Hilaire Bule
