JAKARTA: The labor consignment agency, the Binawan Group, has sent another 23 nurses to work in Australian hospitals. 

      The nurses, who finished their course of study at the Binawan Institute of Health Sciences (Stikes Binawan) in Jakarta, left

for Sydney on Tuesday to complete their study and work in Australian hospitals for two years. They will also take courses at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and work toward their bachelor of nursing degrees so they can become registered nurses in Australia.

      According to the labor contract with Australian hospitals, the workers will be paid A$2,700 per month (Rp 19.7 million).

      Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said during a farewell party for the nurses on Tuesday that the government would continue to push the labor export sector in
order to help resolve the unemployment problem at home.

      "The government will continue encouraging labor exporters to train more and more job-seekers to be sent overseas and to shift to the formal sector to minimize labor abuse problems as well as to improve workers' income," he said. 

      He added that the government would provide more incentives for labor export companies focusing on the export of skilled workers.