'Pacific leaders must now aggressively push the Rudd Government to put in place a scheme similar to New Zealand’s as early as possible’


Among the many changes that the Pacific Islands region can anticipate over the next couple of years or so following the election of the new Labor government in Australia, the issue of seasonal migration of Pacific Islands workers to that country is an important one.

Though hamstrung by a severe shortage of a seasonal labour force to work in its agricultural and horticultural sectors, Australia—particularly former Prime Minister John Howard’s regime—has been averse in considering employing available Pacific Islanders right in its own backyard.

Australia has used several schemes with little success to temporarily employ itinerant workers, including employing tourist workers from western countries. But it has never entertained the idea of having Pacific Islanders as seasonal workers at least in the past decade.

It has repeatedly stalled talks to consider the possibilities and just ahead of the 2006 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meet, a study was published saying the country did not need seasonal migrant labour from Pacific islands countries.

Last month, however, there were straws in the wind signifying what is beginning to seem like a serious wish to look at the issue afresh on the part of Kevin Rudd’s new Labor administration, even though at a meeting with the new Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Dr Derek Sikua in Canberra soon after both prime ministers took their respective offices, he was non-committal on the issue when Sikua raised it.

A large chunk of the credit for Australia’s changing attitude must go to New Zealand’s genuine interest in seasonal migration schemes, which it began implementing a year ago.

Today, over 6000 Pacific workers are employed during the fruit-picking season throughout New Zealand.
So much so that some small farming communities have actually begun to be referred to as ‘little Tonga’ or ‘little Vanuatu’, reflecting the considerable numbers of workers from these countries working there.

By all counts, the first year of the cautious experiment in New Zealand, now called the Registered Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, has been successful.

Workers from Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Kiribati have performed well and been able to send back well earned dollars to their families (workers from Fiji missed out because of New Zealand’s tough stand on its interim administration following the December 2006 coup).

Requisite checks and balances have been introduced and to a large extent, the onus has been put on the seasonal employer to ensure that problems like overstaying—one of Australia’s biggest concerns in employing temporary labour from the Pacific Islands—do not occur.

Of course there have been problems—but they have been tackled well. A case in point is the deportation of some Samoan workers on account of bad behaviour a couple of months ago. Also, New Zealand is continuously assessing feedback from all fronts—the workers, employers and islands governments—and fine-tuning the scheme.

At a meeting in Wellington last month between the government, seasonal employers, Pacific Islands countries and the World Bank, a number of operational issues came up for discussion and a few refinements to the scheme have already been suggested.

Some of these have to do with simple tasks like communication and managing expectations both at the employers’ and workers’ ends realistically.

In an unrelated development last month, Pacific Islands nurses working as caregivers in New Zealand claimed exploitation from the staffing firm that employed them.

It is eventualities of this kind, inevitable in any such endeavour, that future policies will have to address. And to its credit, New Zealand appears to be working on improving the process continuously by involving all concerned parties.

Though still a work in progress, this bold successful experiment has come to the attention of the new Australian regime, which acknowledged for the first time last month, that “New Zealand’s experiment with seasonal workers from the islands would have a big influence on Australia’s approach to the entry of Pacific workers.”

Its Parliamentary Secretary for the South Pacific, Duncan Kerr said Canberra was ready to consider a special plan for Pacific workers to do unskilled farm work in Australia.

He had been encouraged by New Zealand’s experiment, he said, adding that all feedback he had received about New Zealand’s experience was good.

But he hastened to add that no final decision had been taken on the matter. It may be a while before a final decision can indeed be made because of a number of issues, notable among them being the one that has to do with the country’s labour unions.

The Labor government would have to get the unions on its side before it can begin to formulate any policy for migrant Pacific Islands labour.

Importantly, Australia seems to have already begun giving serious thought to the plan. Kerr said it had to be ensured that people are wisely selected for the jobs; that they are paid full entitlement wages and are properly accommodated; that they are not taken advantage of and they return.

Additionally, it will also have to consider other angles that may be specific to it in being different from New Zealand and build its policy around its own specific industry needs and ground realities.

At a time when labour shortages especially in the produce industry are constricting growth in western economies, opening their gates to seasonal migrant labour is the most practical path to mitigate the situation—albeit with the necessary checks and balances.

The Rudd administration seems to have tampered this very practical need with the political will to engage in right earnest with the immediate Pacific Islands neighbourhood—long neglected in such matters by the previous regime.

The logic behind the Howard administration’s plans to push the Pacific Training College to churn out skilled tradesmen ostensibly to work in the Pacific but obviously to be cherry-picked for Australia while yet shunning unskilled labour from the islands for its horticultural sector despite its dire need always seemed at odds with each other.

Pacific leaders must now aggressively push the Rudd government to put in place a scheme similar to New Zealand’s as early as possible to further boost their chief revenue earner—remittances.