Work Stay Play Program

The Work Stay Play Program is a time-limited initiative of the Northern Territory Government to attract tourism and hospitality workers to relocate to the Northern Territory or new local workers to transition from unemployment into a tourism and/ or hospitality job.

What you can get

You can apply for up to $1,500 for each new eligible worker. The cap on the total amount you can claim is $60,000.

Payments for each worker will be split into two instalments:

• $750 when the eligible worker starts employment in the NT
• $750 after 8 weeks of continuous employment.

Who can apply

The program is aimed at Territory tourism, hospitality, aged-care and plant production businesses.

Tourism business means a business whose primary activity is the provision of goods or services to facilitate business, pleasure or leisure activities away from the home environment.

Hospitality business means a business whose primary activity is to provide services related to leisure and customer satisfaction across the following categories:

• service of prepared food and beverages
• short term accommodation.

Plant Production means growers of produce for sale on open commercial market/s, whether the produce is for human or animal consumption, broad acre, horticulture or forestry.

Excluded Employer means a business:

• in which the Eligible Worker or a Relative of the Eligible Worker is Related to the Eligible Employer, or
• that is a public sector agency, local government entity, or a statutory body or corporation owned or controlled by the Northern Territory or Australian governments. 

Worker eligibility

An eligible worker is a person who either:

• has relocated to the NT from outside the Territory for the purposes of taking up employment with an eligible employer or
• is an NT resident who was unemployed for at least one month immediately prior to commencing employment with the eligible employer.

A worker must also meet all of the following criteria:

• be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or otherwise legally authorised to work in Australia
• commenced employment with an eligible employer on or after 30 April 2021
• is working a minimum of 20 hours per week
• is not related to or a relative of the employer.

Excluded Worker means a person who has received (or will receive after approval of an existing application) assistance from the Northern Territory and/ or Australian Governments to relocate (for example through the ‘Relocation Assistance to Take Up a Job’ program).

IMPORTANT: Please read the information below to assist you in completing your application online.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

For queries about the guidelines, deadlines, or questions in the form, please contact us on 1800 193 111 during business hours or email workstayplay@nt.gov.au and quote your submission number.

Click here to view the program terms and conditions.

If you need more help using this form, download the Help Guide for Applicants or check out Applicant Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

NAVIGATING (MOVING THROUGH) THE APPLICATION FORM

On every screen (page of the form) you will find a Form Navigation contents box, this links directly to every page of the application. Click the link to jump directly to the page you want.

You can also click 'next page' or 'previous page' on the top or bottom of each page to move forward or backward through the application.

SAVING YOUR DRAFT APPLICATION

If you wish to leave a partially completed application, press 'save and close' and log out. When you log back in and click on the 'My Submissions' link at the top of the screen, you will find a list of any applications you have started or submitted. You can reopen your draft application and start where you left off.

You can also download any application, whether draft or completed, as a PDF. Click on the 'Download PDF' button located at the bottom of the last page of the application form.

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

You will find a Review and Submit button at the bottom of the Navigation Panel. You need to review your application before you can submit it.

Once you have reviewed your application you can submit it by clicking on 'Submit' at the top or bottom of the screen or on the navigation panel. You will not be able to submit your application until all the compulsory questions are completed and there are no validation errors.

Once you have submitted your application, no further editing or uploading of support materials is possible.

When you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your submitted application attached. This will be sent to the email you used to register.

If you do not receive a confirmation of submission email then you should presume that your submission has NOT been submitted.

Hint: also check the email hasn’t landed in your spam or junk email folder.

ATTACHMENTS AND SUPPORT DOCUMENTS

You may need to upload/submit attachments to support your application. This is very simple, but requires you to have the documents saved on your computer, or on a storage device.

You need to allow enough time for each file to upload before trying to attach another file. Files can be up to 25MB each; however, we do recommend trying to keep files to a maximum of 5MB – the larger the file, the longer the upload time.

COMPLETING AN APPLICATION IN A GROUP/TEAM

A number of people can work on an application using the same log in details as long as only one person is working at a time. Ensure you save as you go.

SPELL CHECK

Most internet browsers (including Firefox v2.0 and above; Safari; and Google Chrome) have spell checking facilities built in – you can switch this function on or off by adjusting your browser settings.