Australia is looking to fill its job vacancies with Ireland’s unemployed, says a report in the Independent.

According to the region's employment minister Peter Collier, western Australia has enough job vacancies to employ a third of Ireland’s 450,000 unemployed.

Collier says the region is anticipating a shortfall of 150,000 workers by 2017 and the area, which is rich in oil and gas exploration, mining and agriculture, is booming and is crying out for skilled workers. And the prosperity there is based on sustainable industries, unlike Ireland’s short-lived boom.

"It's an economic powerhouse," he said at a recruitment drive in Dublin.

"With more than €145bn of resource and infrastructure projects planned, western Australia is on the cusp of a 25-year expansion, which will drive the nation's economy."

The Australian government predicts there will be more than 20,000 vacancies in the building and construction trades by 2015, more than 28,000 jobs in health care and related fields and close to 20,000 jobs in education, said the Independent.

Collier said they are desperate to hire. "They'll come back on the plane with us if we can get them!" he said.

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