SOLOMON Islands’ High Commissioner to Australia, Robert Sisilo, in congratulating the Solomon Islands Community in Brisbane, also called on them to get vaccinated as thousands defying lock-down orders clashed with police in Sydney and other major Australian cities over the weekend.
In a pre-recorded message sent on Facebook online to mark the country’s 43rd Independence Anniversary Celebrations in Brisbane last Saturday, Sisilo told wantoks there that these are indeed desperate times and desperate times call for desperate measures.
“The 1.5 metre rule, the washing of hands, the face-masks, the lockdowns, the vaccinations are tough calls, but the right calls if we are to continue holding the line on the COVID-19 battle,” Sisilo, who will get his second jab next month, pleaded.
“Now is not the time to lose our grip on that line. Nor is it the time to say ‘wait a minute’ to COVID-19 vaccinations,” he added.
“This is the time to go for it. Get vaccinated.”
Sisilo appealed to the SI community in Brisbane and recalled Prime Minister Sogavare’s nationwide address on 7th July 2021 when he said that “the need to work together has never been greater than now.”
Sisilo also thanked the Solomon Islands community in Brisbane and greater Queensland for assisting SI seasonal workers settle in and welcoming them in their churches and homes.
With the negative impact of the pandemic on the national economy, remittances from seasonal workers provide much-needed lifelines to many of the people in Solomon Islands.
Their number is expected to reach 2,000 by the end of next month.
Sisilo, based in Canberra, also thanked and encouraged small local business to continue investing in Solomon Islands.
Some are doing very well in Mildura, Victoria, Brisbane, Canberra with a Fiji-Australian in Melbourne importing yellow cassava from the Solomon Islands.
